It’s really rather stunning that in such a tiny book as The Mark of the Christian by Francis A. Schaeffer, there would be so much to be convicted about, if one’s heart is tender toward Christ.  If one’s eyes are open to one’s own condition and if one’s ears are willing to hear the Truth.  God gives us a “final apologetic” according to Schaeffer.  That final apologetic is unity…an acknowledged godly oneness in the Church.

Right now as we continue to experience the aftermath of the election, we’re increasingly hearing calls for healing a divided America.  Healing divisions and coming together as one nation.  Unity.

Again, the temptation is to settle for a 666 of imperfection, a forged and imperfect unity through compromise.  That’s not what God calls the Church to do.  That’s not what godly leaders ought to settle for…if they’re following God.  To that point Schaeffer writes,

“But there is something even more sober.  And to understand it we must look at John 17:21, a verse out of the midst of Christ’s high priestly prayer.  Jesus prays, ‘That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.’  In this, his high priestly prayer, Jesus is praying for the oneness of the church, the oneness that should be found specifically among true Christians.  Jesus is not praying for a humanistic, romantic oneness among men in general.  Verse 9 makes this clear: ‘I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.’  Jesus here makes a very careful distinction between those who have cast themselves upon him in faith and those who still stand in rebellion.”

That final apologetic of unity is this: that the watching world won’t need to believe that the Father sent the Son, that all the claims of Christ are true, that He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life unless the world can see some kind of evidence of the reality of the oneness of the Church.  If the Church cannot agree on something so fundamental as our being one in Christ, then everything else we have to say is garbage.

So, Christians who voted for Trump and Christians who voted for Clinton, it’s time to vote for Christ and the final apologetic of unity.  If you’re black first or white first or Asian first or gay first or Democrat first or Republican first, then you’re not focusing on the right thing…if you’re actually a Christian. For Christians, it’s Christ ALONE.

You, my true brothers and sisters in Christ, have distinctions that melt away under the powerful reality of the final apologetic called unity.  If you’re in Christ, then what joins us together is far greater than anything that divides us.

We will never achieve unity in the culture if we can’t first figure out how to do it as Christians who already have clear instruction on unity:

Ephesians 4:1 As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit– just as you were called to one hope when you were called– 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

Far more important than … what divides Christians … is the One who unites us.  Let’s start there, with unity, and model it for those still in rebellion, okay?

Love Trumps Hate is not biblical and here’s why: its meaning is entirely dependent upon its object.  The verbs Love and Hate take on a different meaning when applied to different concepts. 

Fill in the blank:  Love _______ Trumps Hate ________.  Apply the words to both blanks… injustice, murder, pizza, sin, Jesus, climate change, paychecks, Bernie, Trump, etc. 

Do you see how the meaning of Love Trumps Hate changes depending on how you feel about the object?

About who and what you love.  Christians, particularly, need to develop some discernment about this.  

It’s easy to get sucked in to something that sounds as good as Love Trumps Hate.  But it’s not biblical and Christians need to see it for what it is.

As we continue to ponder Francis A. Schaeffer’s The Mark of the Christian as being our observable love for our brothers and sisters in the family of God, we need to know what it means to love.  And what we ought to love.

Psalm 52:1  Why do you boast of evil, you mighty man? Why do you boast all day long, you who are a disgrace in the eyes of God? 2 Your tongue plots destruction; it is like a sharpened razor, you who practice deceit. 3

You love evil rather than good, falsehood rather than speaking the truth. Selah

4 You love every harmful word, O you deceitful tongue! 5 Surely God will bring you down to everlasting ruin: He will snatch you up and tear you from your tent; he will uproot you from the land of the living. Selah 6 The righteous will see and fear; they will laugh at him, saying, 7 “Here now is the man who did not make God his stronghold but trusted in his great wealth and grew strong by destroying others!” 8 But I am like an olive tree flourishing in the house of God; I trust in God’s unfailing love for ever and ever. 9 I will praise you forever for what you have done; in your name I will hope, for your name is good. I will praise you in the presence of your saints.

God thinks it’s important to know what you love and what you hate … and why.  It doesn’t end well for those who love evil and love the lie.  Therefore make it a point to discard the Love Trumps Hate poster and hold the banner of Christ instead remembering the words of Jesus Himself: 

Matthew 22:37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

When our love fails for our fellow man, we have two choices: repent then change, choosing what is better.. or resist the command of God thereby becoming bitter.  Sad to say, many Christians will choose the latter.  And many Christians will fail to see that truth spoken in love is the key to repentance.  It’s hard to be convicted by the Holy Spirit of sin if no one will tell you the truth about what God commands to begin with.  Too many in the Church close their ears to Truth because it’s hard to speak it and they don’t want to do it.  They don’t want to be judged or hated by the world, viewed as a freak or a zealot.  Instead they take the easy route of least resistance.  Be content with silence.  And their love for others grows cold.  Their love fails.

As I continue my look at Francis A. Schaeffer’s The Mark of the Christian, he writes about the litmus test of observable love,

“If people say, ‘You don’t love other Christians,’ we must go home, get down on our knees and ask God whether or not they are right.  And if they are, then they have a right to have said what they said.  We must be very careful at this point, however.  We may be true Christians, really born-again Christians, and yet fail in our love toward other Christians.  As a matter of fact, to be completely realistic, it is stronger than this.  There will be times (and let us say it with tears), there will be times when we will fail in our love toward each other as Christians.”

Failure in love is not the fig tree test of our unregenerate status.  Failure in love happens–even among Christians–because we’re all broken people who fall short of the glory of God.

We must never settle, however, for the 666 of sin’s imperfection instead of repenting and holding tight to the standard of the 777 of God’s perfect Triune Love.  So, for example, the protestors right now believe in something that is just off enough of the standard of Truth to lead them to a really bad place.  Instead of repentance and forgiveness, they’d prefer to cling tightly to their anger at their fellow man and their Love Trumps Hate posters all the while demonstrating that love has little place in their lives. 

Love Trumps Hate is not in the Bible. 

It’s simply not and that one degree makes all the difference!

You know what is in the Bible? 

But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. (Luke 6:27-28)

Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. (1 Peter 4:8)

Instead of protesting and demanding “love” from others, that degree of difference says, “You do it.  You show love.  You do good.  You bless others.  You pray for those mistreating you.”  And frankly, the devil is totally in that one degree of difference.  It fails because a 666 is not close enough to pure love or even a cigar.

So what do we do then, as Christians? 

We go to them with God’s perfect standard of love and see their anger and Love Trumps Hate signs as evidence of wounded specimens of genuine humanity crying out in desperation for wholeness in Christ.  Interpret their signs as saying, 

I Need Jesus.  I’m Hurting and I Don’t Know What to Do!” 

Give them the Gospel.  Show them that observable love, that litmus test of true Christians, of genuine love that covers over a multitude of sins, and then teach them the Truth of who Love is.  Because His Name is Jesus.  He never fails.  Apart from that Truth there will be no repentance, no change, no love, and no hope and the bitterness already present will send its root deep in their hearts.  Love them with an observable love so that your love aims toward the standard of love that never fails.  God’s love never fails when you show it toward your fellow man, in or outside of the Christian family of God.

I’ve been re-reading a short little book by Francis A. Schaeffer called The Mark of the Christian.  It’s a tiny little book with a great big punch.  So, the election is behind us and the mark of a Christian is not an elephant or a donkey or draped in libertarian ideals or environmental justice.  The mark of the Christian is how we approached the election, how we treat (and treated) others, especially other Christians, and how we react to God in the midst of it all.  The mark of the Christian is whether we love one another in the family of God…. as Jesus loves us. 

That standard of love is not superficial based on race or gender or ethnic background.  That standard of love is not how much or how little sin we have committed as if any Christians ought to boast with our comparative righteousness.  That standard of love is this:

Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

So rather than political parties, labels, group affiliations, lapel pins, necklaces with a cross on them, or even a special haircut, Schaeffer says that there is a “better sign–a mark that has not been thought up just as a matter of expediency for use on some special occasion or in some specific era.  It is a universal mark that is to last through all the ages of the church till Jesus comes back.”

What is this mark?

To Schaeffer, it is found in John 13:33-35…which “reveals the mark that Jesus gives to label a Christian not just in one era or in one locality, but at all times and all places until Jesus returns.”

Upon Christ’s authority, Jesus gives the world “the right to judge whether you and I are born-again Christians on the basis of our observable love toward all Christians.”

So take a look at your Facebook wall, your blog posts, your Gospel Coalition article, your Christianity Today posting–you know, that public display of your heart–by which JESUS gives the WORLD the RIGHT to judge whether you’re a true follower of Christ and ask yourself this important question:  How’s your observable love?

What do you have your trust in?

Today, I rejoice in the easy conscience of one who takes a stand for Christ.  No matter what happens, I’ve done my best to take my stand for the Word.  To take my stand for Christ.  To take my stand against the evil one and against everything the evil one stands for.  I take my stand with full assurance that Jesus is with me and will guard me…because I have acknowledged Him.

Matthew 10:28 Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. 30 And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. 32 “Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. 33 But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven. 34 “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I have come to turn “‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law– 36 a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’ 37 “Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; 38 and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.

39 Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

Yes, here I take my stand!

For those of you, my dear readers who have been with me for a while, you know that every year, I’ve endeavored to do a devotional series for Lent and also for Advent.  For Advent 2016 Devotionals, God placed on my heart the Timeless desire for healing and encouragement and how the Gospel ministers both.

It’s been a tough year with divisive politics, world events that are enough to give a sane person real pause; there are worries, strife, and many personal tragedies that can cause each of us to look inward, knowing the bitterness and the gall as Jeremiah once lamented.

Lamentations 3:19 I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. 20 I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me.

21 Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: 22 Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. 23 They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. 24 I say to myself, “The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.” 25 The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him;

It is into a world such as this that Jesus came and gave us the Timeless message of the Gospel.  It’s a message of encouragement for all ages.

No matter how the election turns out, we’ll all need a little healing and I trust we will find our places again as brothers and sisters in the family of God.  Those outside of the family likewise will have had a tough year as most years inevitably are on this fallen earth.  Once you have been strengthened and restored, as Advent nears, reach out your hand to someone outside the Church who needs Timeless encouragement.  The Gospel heals.

Join me for Advent 2016 Devotionals called Timeless: the Message of Christmas for All Ages beginning November 27, 2106.  Timeless hope, encouragement, grace, peace, and love will be ours as we look into the Word, see the face of our Lord Jesus, and experience restoration in His presence.  His goodness and His Gospel are truly Timeless.

Advent begins November 27, 2016.  If you’re already signed up on my Home Page sidebar to receive posts, you’ll get the Advent devotionals automatically.  If you haven’t signed up, today is a great day to do so.  Advent and Lenten devotionals remain among my most popular offerings.  You don’t want to miss this great way to prepare your heart for the true meaning of Christmas!

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Prior year’s Advent devotionals (all of which can be accessed via the archives to the right) are as follows:  

The 2015 season devotionals were titled Incarnation and involved digging deep–and yes, I mean deep– in this important mystery of Christian theology.  They began November 29, 2015.

Carol Me, Christmas! remains one of my most popular offerings and tells the Christmas story through our most beloved Christmas hymns and carols.  You can access all of the numbered devotionals from 2014 via the archives.  They began November 30, 2014.

The 2013 series was Emmanuel: When LOVE Showed Up in Person and examined the Prologue to the Gospel of John.  It began December 1, 2013.

The 2012 series focused on Expecting the Unexpected…the unexpected, unlikely, and uniquely divine qualities of God’s perfect plan outlined in Luke’s account of the Christmas story.  It began December 1, 2012.

Love keeps no record of wrongs.  Do you?  Hard as it is to keep short accounts with God and to forgive fully the offenses of our fellow man, it matters.  It matters today.  It matters eternally.

2 Corinthians 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad. 11 Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade men. What we are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your conscience. …

14 For Christ’s love compels us,

because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. 15 And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. 16 So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:

19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.

20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Love keeps no record of wrongs.  Praise God!  If you’re a new creation, forgiven in Him, go and do likewise.

No one says it better than God through the writings of the Apostle Paul:

1 Corinthians 13:1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.

3 If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

8 Love never fails.

Christian, tame your tongue– your light was meant for good, not arson.

I’ve been praying a long time on this one.  Hard words: Tame your tongue… (sigh).  Sometimes, I don’t like my role in the body of Christ too much. But, I understand now. I am a watchman of sorts. A semi-permeable membrane, one little person standing outside of the church with everyman’s Christian mission:  to let Christ’s light shine brightly from the Light of the World into a world of evil…while doing my level best to keep the fuel of an evil culture from mixing with it to burn the whole place down.  Through the prophet Micah, God spoke of a day when people would turn away from the ways of God.

Micah 7:1 What misery is mine! I am like one who gathers summer fruit at the gleaning of the vineyard; there is no cluster of grapes to eat, none of the early figs that I crave. 2 The godly have been swept from the land; not one upright man remains. All men lie in wait to shed blood; each hunts his brother with a net. 3 Both hands are skilled in doing evil; the ruler demands gifts, the judge accepts bribes, the powerful dictate what they desire– they all conspire together. 4 The best of them is like a brier, the most upright worse than a thorn hedge. The day of your watchmen has come, the day God visits you. Now is the time of their confusion. 5 Do not trust a neighbor; put no confidence in a friend. Even with her who lies in your embrace be careful of your words. 6 For a son dishonors his father, a daughter rises up against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law– a man’s enemies are the members of his own household. 7 But as for me, I watch in hope for the LORD, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.

Do you not see what’s happening?

Christians are losing track of words, losing sight and perspective, and worse, losing their light of witness.  Words, they’re spreading fire and propagating confusion.

James 3:5b Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. 6 The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.

Tame your tongue.  It’s not unloving to point that out. It’s what God also spoke to Ezekiel: Ezekiel 3:17 “Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me. 18 When I say to a wicked man, ‘You will surely die,’ and you do not warn him or speak out to dissuade him from his evil ways in order to save his life, that wicked man will die for his sin, and I will hold you accountable for his blood. 19 But if you do warn the wicked man and he does not turn from his wickedness or from his evil ways, he will die for his sin; but you will have saved yourself. 20 “Again, when a righteous man turns from his righteousness and does evil, and I put a stumbling block before him, he will die. Since you did not warn him, he will die for his sin. The righteous things he did will not be remembered, and I will hold you accountable for his blood. 21 But if you do warn the righteous man not to sin and he does not sin, he will surely live because he took warning, and you will have saved yourself.”

I am not perfect. I do not speak perfectly, but my heart genuinely wants to turn us all to the One who is perfect…and to remember what He has called us to do: Tell of Him, Jesus Christ, who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

No Christian should choke his fellow man for 100 denarii (Matthew 18:28). 

Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ (Matthew 18:33)

From the lips of Jesus, about refusing to be merciful

“This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.” (Matthew 18:35)

Be one of those who watches in hope for the LORD, who waits for God as Savior, who trusts that God will hear his prayers, and will see his efforts as carefully speaking and spreading only the truth.

The point is simple really.  Good news saves people. May we all learn how to tame the tongue and use our light to tell words of hope…of the One who saves.