Monday, April 19, 2021

The Believer's Litmus Test


 

Monday, April 19, 2021

So now we can tell who are children of God and who are children of the devil. Anyone who does not live righteously and does not love other believers does not belong to God.  This is the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another.  We must not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and killed his brother.  And why did he kill him?  Because Cain had been doing what was evil, and his brother had been doing what was righteous.  So don’t be surprised, dear brothers and sisters, if the world hates you.  If we love our brothers and sisters who are believers, it proves that we have passed from death to life.  But a person who has no love is still dead.   Anyone who hates another brother or sister is really a murderer at heart.  And you know that murderers don’t have eternal life within them.  We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us.  So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters. 1 John 3:10-16

A litmus test is as old as Eden.  Adam and Eve sized-up their position (relative to God’s majesty) and ate the forbidden fruit.  Cain looked at Abel and couldn’t stand how God accepted his brother’s offering, but rejected his; the result was lethal.  And thus it goes; we judge one another, with murder hidden deep in our hearts as a final expression of our anger and self-righteousness.
Fast-forward to the New Testament and we bump into John’s litmus test for who’s a genuine Christian – the paper turns positive for Holy Spirit DNA when love is present.  I am certain John based this aphorism on what Jesus said about ultimate love:

There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.  John 15:13

I believe strongly this analysis is correct; Jesus taught extensively about love (as much as love’s opposite, indifference), so we would get the point that love for God and each other is our target…even our purpose for existing.

But there is a possibility for messing-up even the most surefire test.  In high school chemistry I recall many experiments that went badly.  Some were mildly offensive because of the smells and mess they produced.  Some were bordering on lethal due to a teenage murky relationship with following rules.  But most of my failed experiments went South because I refused to listen to the teacher’s instructions, and thought how cool it would be to try this variation or that.  After all, what more did a teacher 30 years my senior, with a Masters degree in science, know, than a 17-year-old who knows everything?  It is no wonder at all that God did not call me into scientific research…the world is much safer that way.

The mess-up with John’s litmus test (which is actually Jesus’ test), is putting our own spin on the experiment.  Due to human limitations we tend to judge others, just like our forbears, Adam, Eve, and Cain…and 100% of other humans.  We judge motives through our sin-soaked eyes, and all we can see is their flaws, not their hearts.  The problem with judging other’s hearts is we project our own motives onto their souls.  God-alone is a fit judge for souls; we only make a mess.

So, what is the proper use of John’s litmus test for discovering who is a genuine believer/follower of Christ?  Fairly simple explanation:  dip the litmus test paper of love into your own heart.  This test is for self-examination.  Just like Paul wrote to the Corinthian believers[1] about communion, to exhort them to self-examine before participating in remembering Jesus’ loving gift of salvation, we are to look deep within ourselves to ensure we find love growing, instead of weeds in our soul-garden.

For You Today

If it’s been some time (or ever) since you have done this, I would suggest putting on-hold some of the other things you’ve planned for today, and get busy.  Set aside an hour or more to seriously self-reflect on what’s growing down there.  Are you moving purposefully closer to others who love Jesus, or is it the other way around?  

That first direction is what children of God do; the other (according to John) describes a child of the devil.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!  

[1] Title Image:  Kanesskong, via Wikimedia Commons Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©


[1] 1 Corinthians 11:28

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