7TH JANUARY
John 13:35
By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.
Resolution #7: I will draw those I am trying to reach for Christ into real Christian community!
In this verse, Jesus tells us that the way people will know we are connected to him is that we love one another. We know that we should love lost people like Jesus loves them. But that’s not what Jesus is talking about here. He’s talking about how our love for one another as believers shouts a message into the minds of people who don’t know him.
That message is, “There’s something different here. I’ve never been in a group of people who relate to one another like this. I can’t trust the people in my life, but these people really love and trust each other. There has to be something real in their relationship to Jesus if it makes them like this!”
But how will people who don’t know Jesus see real Christian community happening? Where will they be exposed to Christians relating to each other in a deep way? It won’t happen unless we get intentional about it.
They might not want to go to a church service, so we are going to have to think about relational contexts that we can invite them into where they can see Christian community at work—a BBQ, your home group, a men’s/women’s activity at church. Or maybe you will need to go into one of their relational contexts and take along some of your Christian friends.
MAKE IT PERSONAL
How excited are you about this resolution? Is this something you see yourself easily doing or something you might have a tough time doing? Will you do it anyway?