IF YOU LOVE JESUS
Sellers
Crain Jr.
No
doubt you've all seen the bumper sticker that reads, "Honk if you love
Jesus." I never do honk, but I do
love Jesus. What does honking a car have
to do with loving Jesus? The guy with
the bumper sticker may know why you are doing it, but the rest of the drivers
around you may be irritated thinking you are honking at them. I detest this bumper sticker and others like
them.
Some
may be offended at what I am about to say, but I'm going to say it anyway. Not to be offensive, but to make a point. I enjoy receiving e-mails. I really don't even mind the forwarded ones. I forward some of them myself. So,
please, if you e-mail me, don't be offended.
What I don't like is what I chose to call "Cyber-Chain Mail." Remember Chain Letters? Before they were outlawed I use to get
several of them telling me all kinds of horrible things that would happen to
me, my mother, my wife, my children or my dog, if I broke the chain. Even after they were ruled illegal, I still
continued to get a few of them. I never sent them on. None of the bad things they predicted would
happen to me if I broke the chain ever did.
Now
with the Internet we have Cyber Chain Mail.
I get them all the time. Usually forwarding stuff telling me that "If you really love God,
or Jesus, or my fellow man, you'll forward this to as many people as possible." Some say that "If you forward this, good
things will happen to you. You'll suddenly
become wealthy. You'll get a great job
you've always wanted. You'll meet the
love of your life." (Hey, I already
have.) Some few say that, "If you
don't forward this, horrible retribution will befall you." I
never forward any of these and never will.
What
does my forwarding some Cyber-Chain Mail have to do with my loving Jesus or God? I don't like bumper stickers or Cyber-Chain mails
that try to put me on a guilt trip by things that do not matter. My love for God is proven by far more
important things. God's word says there
are things that prove my love for Him and for His Son. John wrote, "Whosoever
abides in Him (Jesus; emphasis added)" demonstrates his love for God. (1 John 4:15, 16; see also John 15:4-10) If we truly love God, John says we will love
our brother also (1 John