One of the reasons I believe the Jesus Movement stopped moving is that we didn’t love one another well.
We divided over theology, spiritual gifts, politics, and the just plain “I don’t like him or her” sins most believers are all too familiar with.
Sometimes our excuse for divisiveness is, “I just can’t get along with that kind of Christian!”
Really?
Peter would disagree. In his first letter he says that when we obeyed the truth of the Gospel by believing in Jesus our hearts were purified (1 Peter 1:22). He uses the perfect tense when he speaks of this purification of our souls. The perfect tense means that the work was completed the moment we believed.
His application?
Our souls were purified so that we could “love one another fervently with a pure heart.”
The next time you begin to think you can’t love that “extra grace required” Christian in your world, picture Peter standing next to you and saying, “Yes you can! God made it possible the moment you believed in His Son!”
