If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.
1 John 4:20, ESV
You must love others. If you belittle, shun, mock, abuse, ignore, mistreat, and/or generally act unkindly toward others…
… and you call yourself a Christian …
… you have made yourself a liar. The love of God is not in you.
And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.
Mark 8:34-35, ESV
God’s primary concern is not our happiness and comfort in this life.
God’s primary concern is His glory through the salvation of His people. That frequently takes sacrifice and suffering, as our greatest example (Jesus) gave us through the cross.
Continuing our journey through the songs and hymns that have had an impact on my spiritual life, we now turn to another of those famous Christmas carols.
O Come All Ye Faithful
Lyricsd
O Come All Ye Faithful Joyful and triumphant, O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem. Come and behold Him, Born the King of Angels; O come, let us adore Him, O come, let us adore Him, O come, let us adore Him, Christ the Lord.
O Sing, choirs of angels, Sing in exultation, Sing all that hear in heaven God’s holy word. Give to our Father glory in the Highest; O come, let us adore Him, O come, let us adore Him, O come, let us adore Him, Christ the Lord.
All Hail! Lord, we greet Thee, Born this happy morning, O Jesus! for evermore be Thy name adored. Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing; O come, let us adore Him, O come, let us adore Him, O come, let us adore Him, Christ the Lord.
A few thoughts …
In all of the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, it can be too easy to forget to stop and worship our King.
We must remember that this is a time of joy. Our Savior has come!
Some may get caught up in the materialism. Get past it.
Some may get caught up in the idea that angles do not sing. I like what some teach, that they did sing at Creation (Job 38:7) but stopped singing at the Fall. However, perhaps they did sing at the birth of Jesus (Luke 2:13-14), for God joined His Creation to save sinful humanity.
Regardless, let us come together and adore our Savior and King!
And the Lord said: “Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men,
Isaiah 29:13, ESV
Do not worry about what the majority says, and traditions can be good. But if anything contradicts His Word or leads people into temptation and sin, it is our fearing men and their teachings.
But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
Matthew 6:3-4, ESV
We are to do good things for others, but it is out of love for God and others. If we do good things to look good in front of others, then we are loving ourselves only.
Do we truly love the Lord our God with all our hearts, souls, minds, and strengths? Maybe I can help with the mind part, at least! This is Daniel M. Klem, apparent poet, reluctant yet passionate Disciple (Peter?), and foolish man attempting to understand theology!