Greetings,
This past Sunday my dad and brother and soon to be sister-in-law joined me on the worship team. It is always enjoyable to play together with them. People often tell me that they recognize that I inherited my music style and my voice from my father. I am highly honored by that because I think that he is a great musician and a far better vocalist than me. We all inherited attributes from our parents. When was the last time you thought to yourself that you sounded like your mom or dad when you spoke about something?
My kids inherited many things from me. Some of them are positive. When I hear myself in their sarcasm, I initially chuckle, then I am a little grieved that they inherited that from me. When I hear them get angry in a sinful way that I recognize in me, I am saddened. When I hear them repeat some word of wisdom that I have taught them, I am proud. When I hear them love in the way of the Lord, I know that the credit should go directly to the Lord. 1 John 4:19 says that we love because He first loved us. I couldn’t love in a way that is concerned for a person’s soul, especially if that person has hurt me, without first experiencing that unconditional love from God. The ability to unconditionally forgive a person who doesn’t deserve it is not something that is inherited from our flesh.
The love of God is a gift for His children. 1 John 4:20 gives us the picture of what we should inherit as a child of God. If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a fellow believer, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see? When we love people we are demonstrating the character that we inherited from our heavenly Father through the spirit.
John 13:35 tells us how the world will know we are children of God, that we are His disciples, that we truly inherited the Holy Spirit in us--by our love for one another. Notice it is not by our love for the lost, love for the community, love for the down and outers; it is by our love for one another. If we are loving each other, then people won’t be able to question where that love came from. Those other people need our love as well just as Jesus loved them and sacrificed for them. But our good deeds won’t differentiate us from the world, it is our love for each other.
May we be a people that act like, sound like, and love like our heavenly Father.
Love ya,
Chris
