“Dear friends, even though we are talking this way, we really don’t believe it applies to you. We are confident that you are meant for better things, things that come with salvation. For God is not unjust. He will not forget how hard you have worked for him and how you have shown your love to him by caring for other believers, as you still do. Our great desire is that you will keep on loving others as long as life lasts, in order to make certain that what you hope for will come true. Then you will not become spiritually dull and indifferent. Instead, you will follow the example of those who are going to inherit God’s promises because of their faith and endurance.”
If you were worried about losing your salvation after reading yesterday’s passage, you will be comforted by some encouraging words today. While we need to heed the warnings about walking away from God, we don’t need to apply it to ourselves if we have been focused on doing everything we can to follow Jesus. The early Jewish Christians had clearly been an important part of developing the church, and that mattered to God. He isn’t interested in punishing you when you are doing your best to follow him. That’s pretty different from an intentional choice to walk away.
Why are you following Jesus? Most likely, it has something to do with a sense of hope. If you had no hope, why would you try? I find it fascinating that this passage holds the key to all our dreams coming true: love others. If you want all that you hope for in Jesus, love others. That’s the spiritual tool that will bring about the kingdom of God and build a new heaven and a new earth.
We have seen the destructive power of hate in our world. There is no question that hate is an invention of Satan aimed at destroying humanity. But love is more powerful. Love will literally bring about the restoration of God’s creation. However, if it were easy to love more of us would do it. Instead, we find that loving people different from ourselves is hard. As today’s passage shows us, loving requires faith and endurance. Loving others also keeps us spiritually sharp. Get on track today and go find somebody hard to love. Bring a little kingdom moment into a dark place.