"By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."
John 13:35
Thought this quote from John Perkins was a great spiritual 'kick up the backside' that applies equally to us in the UK.
"The only purpose of the gospel is to reconcile people to God and to each other. A gospel that doesn’t reconcile is not a Christian gospel at all. But in America, it seems as if we don’t believe that. We don’t really believe that the proof of our discipleship is that we love one another (see John 13:35). No, we think the proof is in numbers…. Even if our “converts†continue to hate each other, even if they will not worship with their brothers and sisters in Christ, we point to their “conversation†as evidence of the gospel’s success. We have substituted a gospel of church growth for a gospel of reconciliation"
John Perkins From “With Justice for All" Sojourners Mailing
Wow! A challenging quote and a real kick in the belongings! Thanks for the reminder.
It has that uncomfortable ring of truth about it doesn't it. It's too easy with something like that to just acknowledge its truth out there with 'the church' or 'Christians' when perhaps we should be searching our own hearts, relationships, churches and seeing whether this attitude is prevalent there. Doing that can be an uncomfortable reality. We can get used to things not being great with someone over something and so just allow it to fester or linger. The other danger is that you write a post like this, acknowledging the need to do it yourself and then don't ...
Claire,
A good point! Thank you