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^©

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[1] 1 Corinthians 11:28

Kindness

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Friday, September 13, 2019

If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly.  Romans 12:8

Last week I was using the weedwhacker around the yard.  My concern was the side yard where the weeds had been neglected and looked like a jungle.  I walked around the corner to the side yard and immediately noticed the neighborhood lion kitty “Bruno” stalking a mouse or maybe a frog.  He was crouched in the high weeds in pounce mode, eyes intensely focused on his next meal.  Just then I stepped on a twig and the noise got his attention.  Bruno turned, took one look at me and froze with eyes the size of dinner plates.   I called to him, hey, buddy.  Before I could finish the second word, the little man turned scardey-cat and cleared my back fence with a single leap.
It took me a moment to take stock of what Bruno had seen.  Just about daily he approaches me for head pats and back rubs and there is no fear, only friendship.  But what he saw that afternoon coming right at him was dark sunglasses, dirty work hat, head-set sound savers, full respirator mask, and a low rumbling weedwhacker that had Texas Chain saw massacre written all over it!  Haven't seen Bruno since that moment; I sure hope he wasn't working on life #9!

I’m normally quite kind to animals.  On occasion, especially when I’m dressed to kill weeds, I may seem like their worst nightmare.  It all depends on if I’ve taken stock of how I look, and what attitude I’ve got that determines whether it’s Dr. Jekyll or Mr. Hyde they see.  If I’m serious about being kind, I will do that checkup.  I’m certain Bruno would appreciate it!

For You Today

More than a few times in Scripture Paul encouraged us to be kind to each other.  He also encouraged us to pause for that self-examination to see if our faith is genuine[i], and if our hearts are pure as we come to the Lord’s Table.[ii]  Being kind to one another also requires that same self-exam over our motives, and how we come across to people.  If our aim is to help, it helps to be gentle; just ask Bruno! 

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

 

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[1] Title Image:  Courtesy of  Pixabay.com     Unless otherwise noted, Scripture used from The New Living Translation©

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[i] 2 Corinthians 13:5

[ii] 1 Corinthians 11:28

This Holy Week - Part 3

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Wednesday, March 28, 2018

Now Jesus was deeply troubled, and he exclaimed, “I tell you the truth, one of you will betray me!”  The disciples looked at each other, wondering whom he could mean.  The disciple Jesus loved was sitting next to Jesus at the table.  Simon Peter motioned to him to ask, “Who’s he talking about?”  So that disciple leaned over to Jesus and asked, “Lord, who is it?”  Jesus responded, “It is the one to whom I give the bread I dip in the bowl.”  And when he had dipped it, he gave it to Judas, son of Simon Iscariot.  When Judas had eaten the bread, Satan entered into him.  Then Jesus told him, “Hurry and do what you’re going to do.”  None of the others at the table knew what Jesus meant.  Since Judas was their treasurer, some thought Jesus was telling him to go and pay for the food or to give some money to the poor.  So Judas left at once, going out into the night.  As soon as Judas left the room, Jesus said, “The time has come for the Son of Man to enter into his glory, and God will be glorified because of him.  And since God receives glory because of the Son, he will give his own glory to the Son, and he will do so at once.  

John 13:21-32^(NLT)

The mere fact that Judas was at the table with Jesus should tell us volumes about the depth of the kind of love Jesus possesses and offers.  He knew Judas was on the verge of giving-in to his sin-nature; Judas was about to sink into irretrieveable darkness, and yet Jesus shared this momentous and intimate meal with even this betrayer.

I’ve always been intrigued and captivated by the moment of Judas’ fall:

When Judas had eaten the bread, Satan entered into him.  Then Jesus told him, “Hurry and do what you’re going to do.”  John 13:27^(NLT) 

There are so many questions:

·       Was it something about the bread that paved the way for Satan to take Judas’ mind? 

·       Was it Judas’ sinful heart combatting Christ’s blessing on the bread?

·       Is this what Paul meant[2] about eating and drinking damnation to yourself at the Lord’s Table when you haven’t examined your heart for wrong motives, or sin against others?

·       Was there something physically-noticable that happened when Satan entered Judas?

·       Why did Jesus urge Judas to do what he was going to do?

Of course we have questions.  Each of us has spiritual blind spots, but we also have curiosity and a hunger to know this Christ we follow.  Without questions, how will our spirit and soul grow into the likeness of Him?

I’ve always been a little gun-shy of asking questions in public.  I got burned a good bit when I was young and asked some questions that were a little on the dumb side (imagine that)…and the effect silenced my inquisitiveness…at least in public forums.  But the need-to-know still, and always has, boiled beneath the surface.  This is the life of a disciple – to walk with Christ, and find out who we are in Him.  As Paul wrote:

I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death,  Philippians 3:10^(NLT)

For You Today

We are close to this meal Jesus and Judas shared; the cycle of the Christian year is coming to its’ amazing climax with the passion of Christ about to begin.  Get ready to put on the sackcloth and ashes of mourning of Good Friday.  His suffering and death are about to be on bloody display; his suffering because He knew us, and loved us anyway; just like Judas!

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

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[1] Title Image:  Courtesy of Pixabay.com

[2] 1 Corinthians 11:28