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This is faith checkup week! I’m suggesting five ways to examine your faith—to see how healthy your faith is. I’m asking some incisive questions that may prompt you to consider whether you need some adjustments, some changes, some recommitment in some areas of your life.
- Have you allowed the important daily disciplines of your life to fall away?
- Are you doing the good works God has for you to do?
- Are you showing the love of Christ as you should?
John 13:35 says,“ By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” And in 1 John 4:7-8, it is even stronger:
Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
The kind of love this refers to is not necessarily warm, gushy feelings toward someone, but rather it is agape love—love that results in practical actions. First Corinthians 13:4-7 lists those love actions:
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Every time I read that description of love, I’m convicted because I know I lack some of these evidences at times. Like, love is not self-seeking. That means it’s not selfish. You love because God is love and you choose to love like he loves. And love is not easily angered—think of what easily angers you. That’s where you need to learn to show love.
So, take another look at this description of love, and ask God to reveal any areas in your life where you’re not loving like he wants you to.