By this, what a personal rebuke and admonishment. By this, words that we all should set up and take notice and pray fervently for guidance understanding of. I pray that love one to another is not what we strive for or do in guilt, but in sincerity that all may know His grace and mercy and He is glorified. May He grant us this understanding and bless this message to our hearts.
Extra Credit: By this.. The charity in or from a Christian is truly the Grace that all Can Understand. And that is exactly the title and subject of todays bonus devotion by J. C. Ryle
Jhn 13:35 By this shall all [men] know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.
- How do we see love?
Love is the badge of Christian discipleship. It is not knowledge, nor orthodoxy, nor fleshly activities, but (supremely) love which identifies a follower of the Lord Jesus. As the disciples of the Pharisees were known by their phylacteries, as the disciples of John were known by their baptism, and every school by its particular shibboleth, so the mark of a true Christian is love; and that, a genuine, active love, not in words but in deeds. By (A.W. Pink)
The love of Christ, or the absence of it, is a thing easily identifiable. This is not some profound, mysterious point of theology. It is not some sweet-sounding, but useless, emotion. The love of Christ is a gift of divine grace that is clearly demonstrated in the lives of God's elect. This love causes a person to be kind, patient, content, gentle, even tempered, humble, self-denying, generous, honest, truthful, forbearing, and forgiving toward others, both in the church and out of it. By (Don Fortner)
(I Cor Chapter 13)
