i think today's message really impacted me, and really served to wake me up a little.

it was about loving one another, loving fellow believers, and i think this certainly is one aspect i could be more diligent in. 1 John 4:7-12 shows why it is the "plain duty" of believers to love another. i think this is significant for me, because looking back, i think i have treated my fellow believers somewhat nonchantly. as in, when i go about interacting with people, it doesn't really weigh on my mind that, oh, so and so is a Christian, etc. and because i don't look at them that way, because i see them simply as 'just another person', i cannot adequately perform my "plain duty" of loving my fellow believers.

and then pastor bernard said that "love is a defining mark of a Christian". so if i haven't been being actively aware that so and so is a believer, and hence i don't consciously love him as a fellow Christian, then doesn't this "defining mark" become a lot less prominent in me? and doesn't that mean that i am not properly displaying the presence of God in my life, and not being a good testimony for Him?

he also explained the importance of fellowshipping in small groups, which again, i felt is very relevant to me. he said that it is in our groups that we can adequately demonstrate and express this love for one another, since it is of course impossible to achieve that level of intimacy within the entire congregation.

so dear God, help us love one another because You are love, because You loved us in Christ, and because Your love is thereby seen in our love.