John 13:35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.
1 John 4:7a Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God.
The second part of our tagline represents our relationships within the church. Within the body of believers, we find our spiritual family. We use the familial terms because we should be doing life together with our church body as if we were family, for that is what we became when we were adopted as God’s children. These relationships aren’t always easy, but God gave us the church body as a safe place to learn how to love. And it is messy! Because we are there. But we have to work and learn and GROW love here.
How easy is it to just walk away when we have church friction! But we are supposed to learn how to love here. That means taking time to hear the other side of the story, taking time to sit and be honest and truthful when someone has hurt you, taking time to ask for and offer forgiveness. This is where iron sharpens iron and we all GROW together.
