Killers
"You might be right, but you're not doing it in the right way." When my high school English teacher confronted me on the steps outside the administrative building, I didn't know what to say. I had tried to share my beliefs in a school club by arguing that everyone else was wrong. But to my surprise, no one felt loved.
Read 1 John 3:11-24
We learn to walk and talk by watching others walk and talk. I treasured my seminary professor's insight: our example is what points people to Christ. About a year after the class ended, an investigation found he'd committed sexual misconduct, bullied others, and refused to seek reconciliation. The way of Cain is the standard human condition. Though God made us in his image, a pattern of evil deeds reveals we belong to the evil one. The way of death expresses itself through hatred of the righteous and indifference to the needy. Unchecked, we would actively kill people or look the other way if poverty would do the job for us. It's a bleak prescription, and I'd rather pretend that we're all decent people trying to do our best. But John says there are only two ways to live: like Cain or like Christ. The contrast is stark: Cain cut down his brother, but Christ laid down his life. In Genesis, Cain isn't an outsider but a worshiper of God. But his deeds were evil, while Abel's were righteous. When God refused his offering, he burned with anger. So, God warned him that sin was crouching at his door. But instead of turning around, Cain's lack of love turned lethal. So, how can we live like Christ? If we are dead, evil, and condemned, what hope do we have? Try harder? Get our doctrine straight? Go to church more often? God saw killers and let himself be killed. He met evil with good, lies with truth, and hatred with love. He didn't say "I love you" so much as he demonstrated his love. The important thing isn't to believe that Jesus loves us, but that Jesus loves us. Because he has given us his Spirit, we have come to know what love is and we belong to God. The one who made our hearts has restored them. Because he keeps loving us, we keep relying on him and loving others. A Christian friend told me he wasn't sure God still loved him. He couldn't stop sinning. He knew it displeased God, but he couldn't change himself, either. The guilt and shame made it hard for him to pray or come to church. Saying, "God forgives you" felt insufficient. His heart would keep condemning him no matter what I said. John says there's a better judge: God. He knows everything, including all our sins, and still loves us. The freedom comes when we trust his verdict more than our own. John writes not to an individual struggling with sin, but to a community. When we participate in a community where we keep loving each other with the love that God gives us, we start to walk and talk like those around us. We see the reality of God's love in each other's hearts, we gain increasing confidence that God loves us, and so we want to love others even more.
What does it tell us about God that he let killers kill him?
In the past week, when have you closed your heart against someone in need?
When your heart condemns you, what friend could remind you of God's perspective?
Take action to meet the one need that God keeps prompting you to meet.