Walking in Love
2 John 1:6
And this is love: that we walk according to His commands. This is the command as you have heard it from the beginning: you must walk in love.
According to John, who was divinely inspired to write the gospel named after him and three letters to his followers, to walk in love is to walk according to the commands of Jesus. Jesus was not a weak, wimpy, mousy, passive individual who taught in the synagogues and never offended anyone. In fact, the religious leaders found His teaching very offensive – offensive enough to kill Him! Jesus was a strong, assertive Master Teacher who spoke with authority and power, and people were divinely drawn to Him. If you walk in love as Jesus did, you will offend those who oppose the gospel.
Walking in love does not mean that you agree with everyone and condone sin as acceptable. To walk in Jesus’s commands means you recognize sin as sin, and you reject it into your life. You also must be willing to confront others in love who struggle with sin and let them know Jesus can help them overcome sin in their lives. Jesus did this with the woman at the well. He did not condone her sin; He confronted her with it. When He did, she became convicted of her sinful lifestyle.
You cannot convict people of sin. That is the job of the Holy Spirit. Unless the Holy Spirit convicts and the Lord draws people to Christ, they will not come to know Him. As long as we condone sin and make everything acceptable in the church, people will continue to live comfortably in their sin, thinking everything is fine. Unless they see a difference, they will blend in with us and, perhaps more debilitating to the gospel, we will blend in with them. As Christians, we are to live lives of distinction from the world.
1 John 5:16:
If anyone sees his brother committing a sin that does not bring death, he should ask, and God will give life to him – to those who commit sin that doesn’t bring death. There is sin that brings death. I am not saying he should pray about that.
John gives us the answer on how to address those who insist upon living a sinful lifestyle in his first letter. We are to pray. If we pray anything according to God’s will, we know He hears us, and we have what we asked of Him. Praying for the Holy Spirit to convict a sinful person and for that person to come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ is always God’s will. He is not willing that any should perish but that all would come to Christ. We should pray more and argue less. We aren’t trying to win arguments; we are trying to win souls.
Determine to walk in love by walking according to Jesus’s commands. Reject sin in your own life, and pray for those you know who insist on living a sinful lifestyle. You can’t make a decision for anyone else, but you can pray. God hears such prayers and answers, which makes your walk very powerful. Walking in love is certainly of life of obedience and prayer and never an “I’m ok; you’re ok” attitude.
Have a blessed day!