By this shall all [men] know that you are My disciples, if your women wear only dresses, if you go to church every Wednesday and twice on Sunday, if you never set foot in a bar, and if you boycott Disney.

Right? I mean, that's what we hear anyway. We are to be separate. We are to be different. That's how people will know that we are Christians.

Um, wrong. We will be a separate people not because of the stuff we do but because of Who we follow. We won't have to purposefully DO things that are different, we just will automatically BE different because, as followers of Jesus, we will be a peculiar people, aliens in this land.

So just how will people know that we are His disciples?

Joh 13:35 By this shall all [men] know that you are My disciples, if you love one another [if you keep on showing love among yourselves].

The Lord is opening my eyes to just how much the conservative Christian community is failing at this. And then we wonder why we aren't having an impact on the world. :roll: We spend so much time bickering amongst ourselves over whether we should have real wine or not at the Lord's Supper, whether it's OK to have youth groups or nurseries, whether it's OK to use the NIV as a pew Bible, etc. And then we wonder why the world wants nothing to do with us. :roll:

I also notice that Jesus didn't add any conditions to loving each other. We are to show love to one another. Period. Even if I am not dresses only and someone else is. Even if that person accuses me of being immodest. Even if I am an egalitarian and someone else is a complementarian. Even if I only listen to hymns and someone else listens to contemporary Christian music. Even if someone else listens to secular music. WE ARE STILL TO SHOW LOVE TO ONE ANOTHER.

Jesus said that all will know that we are His disciples when we do that. Despite our differences. Despite the particular calls He has placed on our lives. I am learning that I need to take Him at His word.