“Marvel Not”...the Wayfarer 1/17/16

“Marvel Not”

1/17/16

“Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you.

We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.

(1 John 3: 13&14)

Today we turn to the writings of Jesus’ beloved disciple John, and to the advice given the church in the recognition of kindred spirits and fellow Christians. 

The advice given then still applies today, and is the more apparent as time progresses to the eventual return of Christ to receive that Church as His Bride.

The message that needed to be given to that church at that time, and to THE CHURCH at this time, was one and the same and will remain the same until and after His return.

“For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.

Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous.

Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you.

We know that we have passed  from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.

Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.

Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.”

(1 John 3:11- 16)

The message heard from the beginning was the one commandment left us by our Lord and Master, that we love one another with the same love given us by Him!

 This single, simple commandment if followed is proof positive of faith and of walking a Christian walk. 

John goes on to state that that love that is required is not the same self-love  that was evidenced by Cain slaying Abel out of nothing more than covetousness and jealousy.

As we look about at our world, and society that exists today, it is far easier to find that same covetousness and jealousy, than to find the love we are told is required of us. 

Hatred  pervades all sectors of society, is visible among all races, extends even to those who claim Christianity, yet have no tolerance or forgiveness of those  who profess other denominations than their own, or worse still other belief systems than that which they profess but fail to live up to. 

It rears its ugly head in racist  intolerance and protest against the very laws that protect the right of that very racism to voice its views and protect the people who give voice to it simply because those same laws protect others as well.

Christians the world over are indeed hated by all around them and persecuted for simply expressing the love that is required of them.

The phrase that “whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer,”  is all too true among the many peoples of our world today.  

Intolerance, and absolute lack of that love has led to and still leads to wars and conflicts that are somehow justified by far too many who have no comprehension of what that required love entails.

“But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have NEED, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?

My little children, let us not love  in word, neither in tongue; but in DEED and in TRUTH.

And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him

For if our heart condemn us, God  is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.

Beloved,  if our heart  condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God.

And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do  those things that are pleasing in his sight.

And this  is his commandment, That we should believe  on the name  of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment. 

And he that keepeth  his commandments dwelleth  in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.

(1 John 3:17-24)

If we are fortunate enough to have the things John called the “world’s good”, then we are to have compassion on those less fortunate and are to fulfill their NEEDS.

Note that as I have before, and undoubtedly will again in the future, stressed the word Needs as opposed to mere wants!

Needs should extend to clothing, food, spiritual guidance and a helping hand in providing for one’s self.

Need does not extend to entertainment and gadgetry that has become accepted as belonging as a “right” to even the “poor “among us. Compassion must be placed in the manner intended by Jesus…. For all the TRULY destitute and needy.

John admonishes us to love in deed and in truth, not in mere words alone. There exists a truly great need for the compassion and love toward those who are helpless and hopeless. 

Each time  we pat ourselves on the back for all the social programs available through our government, we should instead look to the homeless  that go ignored and invisible among us because we don’t want to see them.

Each time we devote our taxes and contributions toward the wants of the masses instead of the needs, we cut off the compassion required of us by that single, simple commandment left by our Lord. 

John goes on to say that our hearts will tell us if we fail in that compassion, But if those hearts are continually hardened by the covetousness and jealousy of getting ahead of the Joneses, and we look to the admiration and acceptance of our own small circles we may  never truly fulfill that requirement of love.

I could never improve on John’s closing statements in the 23d and 24^th verses. 

If we are to claim to be followers of our Lord, we will simply and honestly honor that one commandment left us, and in return we will know in our hearts the indwelling of that promised Spirit.

That indwelling comes only through the acceptance of the full message delivered by Christ Jesus throughout His ministry of redemption through repentance, and the spiritual rebirth that accompanies that full acceptance of His substitutional sacrifice , made for us.

Without that rebirth through Christ, it is impossible for mortal man to honor the simple commandment left us.

For now, I close, as always, the same simple sinner saved by grace through faith in that Lord Jesus, as always the soldier striving to meet the requirements of that love.

AMEN and AMEN

2 Timothy 1:12 King James Version (KJV)

¹² For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day .

the Wayfarer