“And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.” (1 John 4:16 NIV)

Hey, I accepted Jesus as my Savior. Now I can do anything I want. I am saved and forgiven, so now it doesn’t matter what I do! I don’t even have to be nice to people!

But wait. If we don’t care about other people, we cannot be part of our Heavenly Father. God is love. If we have no love, we are not with Jesus. We cannot be a Christian without love.

I would like to begin today with 1 Corinthians 13:1: “If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate.” (MSG)

When we think about someone who is a good example of Christ, we often think about our pastors. Unfortunately, not all people who call themselves followers of Christ truely follow Him, and pastors are not exempt from this either. Just because a pastor may be eloquent, it doesn’t mean that he is saved. It is our love that shows we are part with our Heavenly Father, not our words,

Sadly, I often receive emails from women who have been abused by their pastors. These pastors are not from God, for there is no way Jesus would do something like that. That is not love at all. Being an eloquent speaker may draw in the crowds, but that doesn’t mean that the speaker is a follower of Jesus. Anyone could preach and pretend to be Christian. My advice is to run from pastors who abuse people. Don’t listen to them, they are NOT of God.

Remember: “If I don’t love (Real love like Jesus showed it), I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate.” (1 Cor. 13:1 MSG)

Instead, the Bible teaches that talking about love and practicing it are two different things: “My dear children, let’s not just talk about love; let’s practice real love”. (1 John 3:18 MSG)

Let’s put our trust in God and stop relying on our pastors. “Far better to take refuge in God than trust in people.” (Psalm 118:8 MSG )

Rob Chaffart

(To access the entire “God’s Love in YOU” devotional series, please click here.)