We Honor God and Obey the Bible When We Share Our Prayer Requests with Others
Prayer is an important part of my life. It’s part of my daily practice and essential for my work and relationships. I daily pray for God’s blessings and provision for my family and close friends.
I also regularly pray for people who read my words, both in this blog and my books.
I pray for you as a group, that God will bless your life and inspire you through what I write in my ministry of words.
I also pray for the people who receive my newsletter updates. Sometimes I call them followers and other times fans, but friends may be the best term of all. Every few months I ask these friends to let me know how I can pray for them specifically.
The Bible tells us to pray for each other (James 5:16), but prayer is something I offer as an act of service. It’s both a joyful privilege and a sacred burden to pray for them when they share their prayer requests with me.
The Global Church of Jesus
As people share their concerns with me, my appreciation for the global church of Jesus grows. We are so beautifully diverse. We come from different cultures, countries, and races. We have various experiences and struggles.
Our perspectives of God may differ, but we share our faith in Jesus.
The prayer requests I get from people in the United States are far different from what I might get from some of my friends in Africa or Asia.
But each prayer request is just as valid and just as real to the person who asks me to pray for them. And it’s just as important to God.
When I pray for my friends around the world, my concerns often seem trivial in comparison. In contrast to them, I live a safe and secure life. Yes, God is a real part of my everyday life, but his provision to ensure my daily existence is not as urgent.
My friends on my mailing list inspire me with their prayer requests. Some have great pains, others share weighty concerns, and many inspire me with their faith and great desire to boldly move into becoming who God wants them to be.
When I pray for them, I am both honored and humbled.
They remind me that we serve a great and powerful God.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
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God Gives Us Holy Spirit Inspiration to Guide Us for Our Benefit and His Glory
For the last week, I had planned to write the introduction to my next book. I had the whole thing outlined, and I knew what I wanted to cover in the opening pages. Each day I asked God to give me the right words, but nothing came.
Inspiration eluded me. So instead of working on that book, I worked on another one.
Yesterday morning, during my morning exercise ritual, part of which includes praying, one of my topics for the day was to “Pray for Holy Spirit inspiration.” I prayed.
The words for my uncooperative introduction flooded into my mind. I know from experience that I must capture them immediately or they will quickly fade, eventually disappearing altogether.
I stopped exercising at that moment and sat down in front of my computer. I wrote for the next hour. With my introduction finished I resumed exercising.
I learned the hard way that when I’m inspired to write something—whether directly from the Holy Spirit or indirectly—I must write immediately. If I don’t, I will lose those words and inspiration. And they may not return.
Holy Spirit Inspiration
The Holy Spirit is my writing muse, and I must not ignore him.
Yet the Holy Spirit speaks to me at other times too. Sometimes this is insight for me or to share with another. Other times it’s something I must do.
To my discredit, I’m not always so quick to jump when the Holy Spirit gives me direction. At times I question his words because they make no sense to me, and he needs to tell me twice—sometimes three times. Then I act.
However—and I’m ashamed to admit this—sometimes I don’t act at all. Instead I debate with the Holy Spirit. Surely he didn’t mean what he said, because it makes no sense.
Could it be that I heard wrong? This happens. In the end I talk myself out of following through.
When the Holy Spirit tells me to write, I learned I must do so and do so immediately. I wish I could respond just as quickly when he tells me to do other things.
May I learn to do so and learn quickly.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
Get the Bible Reading Tip Sheet: “10 Tips to Turn Bible Reading from Drudgery to Delight.” Enter your info and receive the free Bible Reading Tip Sheet and be added to Peter’s email list.
In our post Go All in For Jesus, we talked about the importance of giving God our whole heart, all our heart. The Bible repeatedly tells us to do things with “all your heart.”
This means to not do things halfheartedly, that is with a split allegiance or divided focus. Instead we must do everything with our whole heart, not half way but all the way.
This idea of doing things for God with our whole heart occurs in both the Old and New Testaments of the Bible.
Half of them appear in Deuteronomy, but the most significant times are in the New Testament, quoting the words of Jesus, when he tells us to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.
Discover what the Bible tells us to do wholeheartedly:
1. Love God with All Our Heart
The most common thing we are to do whole heartedly is to love God. This is in both the Old and New Testament, first coming from God to Moses and even more importantly coming from the lips of Jesus.
The idea of turning to God wholeheartedly shows up in three forms: turn to God (Deuteronomy 30:10), returning to God (1 Samuel 7:3), and return to God (Joel 2:12).
This idea of turning to God ties in with repentance. When we think of repenting as making a U-turn to follow Jesus, we know that we must do so with our full heart.
4. Seek God with All Our Heart
We must look for God, to go after him wholeheartedly. Jeremiah says that we if do this with all of our heart, we will find God (Deuteronomy 4:29 and Jeremiah 29:13).
5. Observe His Commands with All Our Heart
The Bible tells us things that we must do, which we must pursue wholeheartedly (Deuteronomy 26:16). The context refers to the Old Testament Law, but is that the extent of the instruction, or does it apply to the whole Bible.
6. Obey God with All Our Heart
Connected with the idea of observing God’s commands is to obey them (Deuteronomy 30:2). Though this may be two words that look at the same action, is it possible to observe something without obeying it?
7. Trust Him with All Our Heart
One of the better-known verses about this subject is a proverb to trust God with every bit of our heart (Proverbs 3:5). If we trust God wholeheartedly, that means we aren’t putting trust in ourselves or our situation. We’re handing all our trust to God.
8. Take Hold of His Words with All Our Heart
Next we are to take hold of God’s words (Proverbs 4:4). In Proverbs, Solomon instructs his son, but in this verse, it isn’t Solomon’s advice. It’s God speaking to Solomon—and to us.
9. Be Glad and Rejoice with All Our Heart
We are also to praise God wholeheartedly, with happiness and joy (Zephaniah 3:14). This may be through our worship music, but even better is when it’s through our actions and our words in everyday life.
10. Work at It with All Our Heart
In all that we do we must work wholeheartedly, not just to gain the favor of others, but also as though our work—all of our work—is for God (Colossians 3:22-23).
Though this verse specifically addresses slaves and their relationships to their masters, shouldn’t it also apply to employees and their relationships to their bosses?
God Deserves All Our Heart
These are ten things the Bible tells us to do with all our heart, not halfheartedly but wholeheartedly. In doing so we honor God with our words and our actions. He deserves nothing less.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
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God Doesn’t Want Part of Us, He Wants Our Whole Heart
When we follow Jesus we must do so with all our heart. There is no turning back to what we left behind. He wants our full attention, not part of it. We must go all in for Jesus.
Follow Me
Jesus gives his followers various instructions about what they must do to be part of team Jesus. He tailors his words to the individual situations of the people who ask what they must do to inherit eternal life. His most common response is, “Follow me.”
He says this a couple dozen times. All four of the biographies of Jesus (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) include this instruction (such as Matthew 16:24).
To go all in for Jesus starts when we follow him.
No Turning Back
When we follow Jesus, we abandon our old path because we’re on a new one. There is no turning back. When Lot and his family run for their lives before their city of Sodom is destroyed, God says, “Don’t look back.” Lot’s wife does. She doesn’t make it.
Though the way forward, the path to life, was clear, Lot’s wife worried about what she was leaving behind. She had a divided heart, and it cost her her life (Genesis 19:17, 26).
Jesus says, “People who look back when they’re plowing aren’t fit to be on my team” (Luke 9:62). A person who is plowing and turns around will plow a crooked line. To go straight, the person plowing must focus on what is ahead.
To successfully go all in for Jesus means that we must look straight ahead and not turn around.
All Our Heart
Both the Old and New Testaments tell us that God wants us to pursue him with our whole heart. This is most often found in Deuteronomy, where it sometimes adds all our soul and all our strength (Deuteronomy 6:5).
Later, when a teacher asks Jesus to identify the most important commandment, he says we must love God with all our heart and soul and mind. Then he adds a second one that we must love others as much as we love ourselves (Matthew 22:36-40).
To go all in for Jesus means that we love him with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind.
To follow Jesus with all our heart, there is no turning back. We must go all in.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
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Remove Worldly Distractions to Make More Space for God
We live in a world of clutter. We’re surrounded by things that constantly demand our attention, if only for a fraction of a second. Some of it is our own doing, such as our technology with its 24/7 beeps and incessant call for our attention.
Other things are out of our control, such as the constant deluge of marketing messages that surround us in both our physical life and our online world. Beyond these two areas is our environment, the reality we create for ourselves to live in.
Combined, these things clutter our lives with constant distractions.
Each time one of these things encroaches our life, we make a split-second decision to give it attention or to ignore it. This happens so frequently that we seldom realize it, but it occurs several times each minute, maybe even each second.
Most of the time we deftly deflect these distractions, but when added together over the span of a day, they represent tens of thousands of potential distractions we must deal with.
Though we handle most of these interruptions subconsciously, they combine to weigh us down, to weary us and open us to interference.
These needless micro-decisions compound over time to rob us of our self-discipline and weaken our self-control.
At best, this renders us ineffective, and at worst it opens us to temptation, because we have little decision-making energy left to fight it.
We must do what we can to seize control of our surroundings and remove the clutter from our reality as much as possible. Here are some steps to accomplish this.
Simplify Our Lives
There’s a saying that we don’t own things, but that things own us. There’s truth in this. Each thing we possess demands something of us.
We must take care of it. We must find a place to put it. Does the utility of it exceed the demands that it’s presence places on us? Too often, I fear, the answer is no.
Our possessions take up space, both physically and mentally. We must get rid of what we don’t need, what doesn’t bring us joy, and what doesn’t add value to our lives.
We must purge junk, because each item that we have represents another micro distraction.
Some people go so far as to say that if we haven’t use something in the past three months, we should get rid of it. I’m not that extreme, but I do experience joy each time I eliminate something that only clutters my life.
Reduce Distractions
I spend much of my working day in front of the computer. With dual screens and always online, technology provides many distractions. I must declutter my computer.
First, I pursue the goal of “inbox zero.” Quite simply, I strive to keep my email inbox empty.
I don’t let things pile up, because I know that each pending message serves as a micro distraction all day long. Ten messages means ten distractions each time I glance at my inbox.
To work toward achieving this goal, I try to deal with all messages each time I check my inbox. This means I quickly delete, respond, or handle each one.
But I don’t continually monitor my email. Instead I periodically check it and handle messages in batches.
Next, I apply this strategy to my web browser. My goal is to move toward one open tab. If I’m not careful, it’s easy for me to have ten or more tabs open.
Yet I know, each open tab serves as another micro distraction each time I glance at my browser, which happens frequently throughout the day.
Right now, I have seven tabs open, that’s seven distractions each time I look at that screen. How many can I close? Each time I do, I eliminate one micro distraction.
Third, I also look at my physical desk. Each item laying on my desktop represents another chance for distraction. Ideally, I aim for one pile of papers, with the top sheet representing my focus for that moment.
This way, when I glance away from my computer there’s only one thing to see.
It reminds me what I should be doing.
Celebrate That Less Is More
As we remove things that don’t matter, that don’t provide value, and that don’t fill us with joy, we can better focus on what remains. We can celebrate what stays, what matters most.
Though the idea that “less is more” is an anathema to our materialistic society, it’s a mindset we must diligently strive to reclaim.
Simplify Processes and Procedures
We should look at each thing we do in our life, both at work and at home. Over time, tasks balloon to encompass more steps and take more time than they need to.
We must become an efficiency expert and look to streamline everything we do. As we pursue this, it gives us more space and more time.
The Simplest Solution Is Usually the Best
As we consider that less is more and look to simplify what we do, we come to the inescapable conclusion that the simplest solution is usually the best one.
Don’t make anything more complicated than it needs to be. Streamline everything, and cut out all that doesn’t matter.
Embrace the Results
Why should we do this? Why should we strive to take more control of our lives by removing the distractions that reduce our ineffectiveness and rob us of peace?
As we do this, it increases our effectiveness.
But more importantly, it also takes a huge swipe at the multitude of things that distract us from realizing God’s presence and threaten to push him to the side of our life or even outside it.
God is present in every moment, but too often are endless distractions keep us from being aware of him.
We must remove things that distract us from God, so we can place him in the center of our reality where he belongs.
Though getting rid of some of our stuff may seem like a trivial exercise, it’s the first step to reducing distractions and embracing our Creator and Savior as the focus of our lives.
As God says, “Be still, and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10, NIV). Removing distractions from our lives will help us do this.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
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Let’s Reframe the Idea of a Christmas Sale in Spiritual Terms
This time of year, we so often see the phrase “Christmas sale” that we barely give it a thought. And if we do think of it, we lament the secularization of our holy celebration of Jesus’s birth.
Yes, the commercialization of gift giving and a merchandising mentality of tempting, can’t-pass-it-up sale prices has coopted one of Christianity’s most cherished celebrations.
This distraction of Christmas sales takes us from what the birthday celebration of Jesus’s arrival on earth was meant to be, moving us to something spiritually unintended and eternally unhelpful.
The idea of a Christmas sale is to entice us to buy something that will make us or our loved ones happy. Connecting a sale to the memory of Jesus alarms us.
Yet before we reject the phrase Christmas sale, let’s re-examine it from a spiritual perspective.
While we don’t want to offer of Jesus for sale, in hopes that someone will buy him, we do want to promote Jesus in hopes that someone will follow him.
If we think of sales in terms of marketing, isn’t that what we’re really doing when we tell others about Jesus?
Granted, the thought of marketing Jesus offends many, yet telling others about the good news of Jesus—either through our words or our lifestyle—is, at its most basic form, marketing.
In our marketing of Jesus, we don’t expect anyone to buy him—even if we pretend he’s on sale—but we do want people to buy into the idea of turning their life around and following him.
Each time we see the words Christmas sale, may we connect it with Jesus. I don’t mean in a crass commercialization of him but in a way that reminds us that both in this season and all year round, we need to let others know about him.
Though shocking to suggest it, this might be the true meaning of “Christmas sale.”
Celebrate Christmas in a fresh way with The Advent of Jesus. It’s a forty-day devotional that prepares our hearts to celebrate the arrival of Jesus in an engaging read. Begin your Advent journey now and gain a greater sense of wonder for the season.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
Many people in the Bible question God. These aren’t fringe malcontents. They’re some of our favorite Bible characters and, I suspect, some of God’s favorite people too.
They include Job, Abraham, Moses, David, Mary, and even Jesus.
I can’t recall a single verse where God strikes someone dead or punishes them because they question him.
Yes, Lots wife turns into a pillar of salt because she wants to return to her old way of living (Genesis 19:26). And Ananias and Sapphira are struck down dead because they lie to God (Acts 5:1-10).
In the book of Job, God permits Satan to torment Job. In rapid succession, Satan strips everything from Job: his possessions, his children, and his health. Job wants to give up.
Throughout the book, he asks God a string of accusatory questions. “Why?” he repeatedly asks (Job 3:11-23 and many more).
When God decides to destroy the city of Sodom, he lets Abraham know about his plans. Abraham questions God’s decision, wondering if God isn’t overreacting.
The dialogue between Abraham’s questions and God’s answers ping-pong back and forth in excruciating detail.
I lose my patience just reading the passage, yet God is patient with Abraham and seems to honor his ongoing inquiries (Genesis 18:23-33)
Moses Questions God
Moses is also comfortable asking God questions. One time, God is fed up with his chosen people. He wants to wipe them out. Then he’ll start over with Moses. He offers to make Moses into a great nation.
Instead of accepting God’s generous offer, Moses pushes back.
He challenges God’s decision. He asks God an impertinent question. Amazingly, God listens, and he relents. He doesn’t destroy the people, all because Moses intervenes and questions God (Exodus 32:11-14).
David Questions God
David, a man after God’s own heart, asks God a lot of questions. Just read through David’s writings in the book of Psalms. In many respects these serve as his prayer journal.
In his writing, it seems David alternates between unabashed praise of God and asking unrestrained questions of despair (Psalm 2:1, Psalm 10:1, Psalm 10:13, and many more).
One more is most significant. David asks, “God, why have you ditched me?” (Psalm 22:1).
Mary Questions God
God sends an angel with incredible news to young Mary. He says she’ll give birth to the Messiah who the people are waiting for.
Her first response is a question. “How can this happen since I’m a virgin?” Though she directs her question to the angel, it’s really meant for God.
When the angel explains that the Holy Spirit will supernaturally impregnate her, Mary accepts this. “May it be so” (Luke 1:34-38).
Jesus Questions God
Even Jesus questions his heavenly Father. It’s hard to believe, but that’s what happens. Just before his detractors execute him, Jesus prays.
In his prayer, his question is formed as an imperative: “Don’t make me die, but if you insist, I will” (Mark 14:36).
What? This is why Jesus came: to die for us so we could be made right with Papa. So why would he request a last-minute reprieve? I don’t know, but he did.
Then as he’s dying in excruciating pain on the cross, he asks the most horrific question of all. Just as David asked centuries earlier, prophetically foreshadowing the life of Jesus, he asks, “God, why have you ditched me?” (Mark 15:34).
Yes, after this painful question, Jesus does die. But death doesn’t have the last word. Jesus overcomes death and lives anew, just as he and Papa planned from the beginning.
To Question God is Okay
Just like Lot’s wife, turning from God and returning to our old way of life deserves punishment. So does lying to God’s Holy Spirit as Ananias and Sapphira did.
But based on the above examples from the Bible, we see that when God’s children question him, he’s patient and doesn’t punish them.
And if we’re in relationship with him, I don’t think he’ll punish us to question him either. In fact, I think he rather enjoys it.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
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Be Intentional about Discussing Faith and Avoid Superficial Chatter
After Jesus’s death and him overcoming death, he appears on the street headed to the city of Emmaus, traveling with two of his followers. But they don’t recognize him.
He talks to them about God, the Scriptures, and faith. When they eventually realize who he is, he disappears.
Then they recall how their hearts burned when he talked to them (Luke 24:13-32).
Yes, any exchange we might have with God would be a meaningful spiritual conversation, but we can have meaningful spiritual conversations with each other too.
What is a Meaningful Spiritual Conversation?
It’s hard to define what makes a conversation both spiritual and meaningful. Yet when we encounter one, we know it. This is a result of intentional action to make our words count, celebrating Jesus and inspiring one another.
It’s bypassing those easy comments about family, work, sports, and weather. It’s skipping trivial exchanges to embrace a dialogue of purpose.
It takes work to accomplish, but it’s worth the effort. Here are some of the results that occur when we have meaningful spiritual conversations.
Meaningful Spiritual Conversations Connect Us with Each Other
Talking with one another connects us. Having insignificant discussions results in insignificant connections. Having deep conversations results in deep connections. May we always be intentional with our words.
Meaningful Spiritual Conversations Encourage Us in Our Faith
For our encouragement to have the deepest impact, it must be both meaningful and spiritual.
These conversations build us up in our faith and inspire us as we walk with Jesus.
Meaningful Spiritual Conversations Point Us to God
When we have these meaningful and spiritual exchanges, we point people to God. This may be directly or indirectly, but it is intentional. When we’re with people who share our faith and our passion, we want our conversation to match that.
As our meaningful, spiritual dialogue connects us with each other and encourages one another, it automatically directs our focus to God.
Meaningful Spiritual Conversations Are a Form of Worship
Last, these intentional conversations allow us to worship God. In the Bible, John tells us to worship God in spirit and in truth (John 4:24).
I’ll likely spend the rest of my life trying to unpack all that this entails, but I’m quite sure that one aspect of worshiping God in spirit and truth occurs when we have conversations with others of a meaningful, spiritual nature.
May we never lose sight of this.
May we seek meaningful spiritual conversations with others every day.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
Get the Bible Reading Tip Sheet: “10 Tips to Turn Bible Reading from Drudgery to Delight.” Enter your info and receive the free Bible Reading Tip Sheet and be added to Peter’s email list.
Unfortunately, the world rarely sees our love and unity. Instead we model hate and disagreement. That’s what the world sees and often what they think of when they hear the word Christian. As a result, we tarnish our witness for Jesus.
Instead we focus on our theology, our politics, and our opposition to what we deem as evil. And in our inability to get along, we segregate ourselves into divisive denominations.
But these items are not the foundation of our Christian witness.
To our discredit these are the foundation of our undoing as Christians, losing sight of what it means to follow Jesus and be his disciple.
Is Our Theology Our Witness?
In the last several hundred years, Christians have debated, argued, and even fought over theology. Yes, in the name of pursuing a right theology, we have even killed one another. And toward what end?
The result of pursuing a right theology has fractured the church of Jesus, resulting in 42,000 denominations, which is a powerful confirmation of our inability to get along.
Our Christian theology is an ineffective witness to the world in search of answers.
Is Our Politics Our Witness?
Another area where Christianity emerges is in the political arena.
We support candidates who we believe hold to a Christian worldview, espousing a biblically ethical mindset. And we oppose the other candidate, who we view as the antithesis to all that is right and godly.
Yet Christians end up sitting on opposite sides of the political table: some champion one candidate, while others support the opponent.
We’re missing the point. Arguing about politics will never point people to Jesus.
Is Our Opposition Our Witness?
Much of Christianity, especially the evangelicals and fundamentalists, take stands to oppose what they feel is wrong in the world. Two areas emerged in recent decades: opposing homosexuality and opposing abortion.
To make the point, well-meaning, but misguided, Christians loudly take a stand, spewing invective to anyone who listens. We come across as hate filled bigots and not the loving followers of Jesus that he desires.
Instead of talking about what we’re against, we should talk about Jesus, his love, and his power to save and to heal.
Is Our Denomination Our Witness?
As Christians argued and fought, we’ve divided ourselves over a minutia of details, most irrelevant and others perhaps with a bit of substance, but little that amounts to a faith-jeopardizing heresy.
What’s our reaction to this? Instead of promoting Christian unity and trying to get along, we turn our backs to one another, stomp off in anger, and make a new denomination.
As a result, we produced 42,000 examples that tell the world Christians can’t get along with each other. Our denominations stand as a powerful witness, not to Jesus, but to our selfish disunity.
Our Love and Unity is Our Christian Witness
Let’s sweep aside our theology—yes, I did say that—and our politics and our opposition and our denominations. When it comes to Jesus and his kingdom, these things don’t matter.
What matters most is that we love one another and work to get along. Our love and our unity form our best Christian witness.
Everything else just gets in the way and tarnishes the name of Jesus.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
Get the Bible Reading Tip Sheet: “10 Tips to Turn Bible Reading from Drudgery to Delight.” Enter your info and receive the free Bible Reading Tip Sheet and be added to Peter’s email list.
Followers of Jesus Should Carefully Consider the Message We Send to the World
A song from my youth carries the title, which repeats in the chorus, “They’ll know we are Christians by our love.” If you’re not familiar with this song, check out the lyrics or watch a video.
Though not the style of music I listened to then or prefer now, the haunting melody drew me in and served as a bridge to connect my growing, yet questioning, faith with the 60s Jesus movement, for which I was born a bit too late.
Christian love became my focus in all that I did.
Christian Love
This phrase, “They’ll know we are Christians by our love,” became my anthem then and persists today as a key guiding principle for life and living.
In Paul’s popular teaching on love in 1 Corinthians 13, he ends by saying that three things will last forever, faith, hope, and love.
In this trio, love stands above the other two. That means, love is the greatest thing (1 Corinthians 13:13).
The biblical basis for this song’s title and chorus is perhaps John 13:35, where Jesus says to his disciples that everyone will know they follow him if they love each other.
That is, “They’ll know you’re my followers by your love.” Of course, the Bible has many other verses about love and the importance of loving one another.
When we truly love one another, we point people to Jesus. Isn’t that our purpose?
Christianity Unity
A secondary theme in this song is unity, specifically Christian unity. It says we are one in the Holy Spirit and one through Jesus. It also prays for the restoration of unity and ends with an acknowledgment that the Holy Spirit unites us.
Jesus echoes this need for unity. In his final prayer before his execution, he asks his father that all his followers—both present and future—will be one—that is, united—just as he and Papa are (John 17:21).
Christian unity then, is another trait that points people to Jesus.
Christian Love and Unity
Sadly, our world today does not celebrate Christianity for our love or our unity. Instead too often society views Christians as purveyors of hate and the cause of division.
The world hears these messages and rejects Jesus because of them—because of us.
Instead we must pursue Christian love and unity. And not just for the sake of love and unity, but for the sake of pointing people to Jesus.
May the world know we are Christians because we love one another, and may they know we are Christians because we all get along.
If we can master Christian love and unity, everything else will fall into place.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
Get the Bible Reading Tip Sheet: “10 Tips to Turn Bible Reading from Drudgery to Delight.” Enter your info and receive the free Bible Reading Tip Sheet and be added to Peter’s email list.
