This week's devotion is entitled:
This week, I want to talk about the positive and negative effects that we can have on our fellow Christians. There will be two verses and two explanations, one for each side of our influence. First is the good:
Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
~1 John 4:11-12 (NIV)
Our fellow Christians, even as the world, can see God's love and God's light in us. It as just as important for us to shine the light of God's love and God's gift to mankind to our fellow Christians as it is to show these wonderful things to nonbelievers. Sometimes they need it more than nonbelievers, because if they feel themselves distanced from God, they feel it more acutely and it affects them more deeply. We then, have the enormous power to do good to our brothers and sisters in Christ by sharing His love with them. Our love for one another shows God's love for us. It is only a very small example, but an important one nonetheless. Because, as the verse says, if we love one another God's love will be more complete in us. Who doesn't want to feel more and more of God's unrelenting love? We may not be able to see God's face, but who doesn't want to see the effects of His love manifested in ourselves and our fellow Christians? It is a positive thing when we share and show God's love, so love your fellow Christians just the way you should love the world.
So because of your superior knowledge, a weak Christian, for whom Christ died, will be destroyed. And you are sinning against Christ when you sin against other Christians by encouraging them to do something they believe is wrong. If what I eat is going to make another Christian sin, I will never eat meat again as long as I live--for I don't want to make another Christian stumble.
~1 Corinthians 8:11-13 (NLT)
It only follows that this is where we can have a negative influence on our fellow Christians. If another Christian, especially a new or weak Christian, sees you sinning and thinks it is right, they will sin after you. According to Paul, that is a sin against Christ Himself on your part. It is hard enough trying to keep from stumbling over the obstacles the world throws at us, much less the blocks that are put up by our brothers and sisters in Christ. You must be careful of your actions, as you are being observed. New Christians especially tend to look up to Christians they trust to learn how to adjust to their new lifestyle. If they are coming from a total life of sin to a new life in Christ and see you, supposedly a good Christian, living in sin, they will become confused and possibly give up the walk all together. Christians, as my youth pastor once put it, live in a bubble, and are constantly being scrutinized from all sides. While this is not fair, and you are only human (and thus will occasionally stumble), it is the way things are. If you are seen in a bad light, it could cast a bad light on Christ and Christianity for the viewer. You must, therefore, be careful of your actions and run away from blatant sin. Repent (there's a big church word) of any of the things you are doing that you know are wrong but continually do, and be careful of the message you send to other believers.
One of the messages that I like to drive home when ministering to my brothers and sisters in Christ is that no one can live in an invisible box and be completely cut off from the world. No one can go their whole lives and never have any effect on anyone. So this week, stop and think about whether the effect you are having on others is positive or negative, and pray about it.