By Our Gloves

The following is an excerpt from my upcoming devotional book that I am currently writing. This is a little sneak peek for you to enjoy until the book is released. The devotion is subject to change pending the editing process before publication. The scripture readings come first, then the devotional reading.

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Readings

Romans 12:1-2

¹ I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. ² Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

John 13:34-35

³⁴ A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. ³⁵ By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.

Luke 11:39-42

³⁹ And the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. ⁴⁰ You fools! Did not he who made the outside make the inside also? ⁴¹ But give as alms those things that are within, and behold, everything is clean for you.

⁴² “But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and every herb, and neglect justice and the love of God. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.”

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By Our Gloves

When I was growing up there was a popular hymn we would sing in church, written by Peter Scholtes. The lyrics for the song were inspired by John 13:35 (ESV*) “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” The chorus of the song quotes the scripture and says “They will know we are Christians by our love.” One day my mom said it would be a funny way for the youth in the church to share about the service project they were doing to sing for the congregation “they will know we are Christians by our gloves” while wearing work gloves embroidered with crosses. As young children, my siblings and I thought that was hilarious and we kept singing it. The little song became an inside joke for my family. 

As an adult I often think about that little joke and how there is a sad reality connected to it. How often do we rely on our “gloves”, our bumper stickers, t-shirts, cross jewelry, etc. to show our faith? In Romans 12:1-2 Paul admonishes us to be a “living sacrifice”, to be in this world without being shaped by its culture, but to rather be shaped by God through our faith. We are called to live counter to culture by actively living out our faith.

Think of the Pharisees and how time and time again Jesus calls them out for putting on a show of holiness while not being impacted by personal relationship with God at all. They missed the point entirely of what God had called them to do. 

 In John 13:34 Jesus commands us to be actively living out our faith by showing love for one another. Jesus does not offer a suggestion, or recommend that we love each other—He commands it. In the passage in John, Jesus is specifically talking about the way we love other believers, the other members of the body of Christ. Scholtes in the lyrics of the hymn extends that a bit further and includes how we treat non-believers. I believe both are important, and we will be digging deeper into the scriptures around both of those ideas later on in this study.

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*All Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.