Why Don’t Christians Love Each Other?

Why Don’t Christians Love Each Other?

Why don’t Christians love each other? Oh, I’m not talking about the 1 in 100 example from all the Christians you know who actually do love other Christians in their daily life. I’m speaking in general terms here. Why don’t Christians love each other?

Maybe your reading this and thinking: Well, of course, Christians love each other, Marc. I go to a church that is filled with people I love and these people are so kind to me and are people who love me. We bring each other meals when we are sick, we give money for church projects and we go to lunch at Restaurant’s after service and have a wonderful time.

Yes, I get that. But why don’t Christians love each other?

I’m not interested in hearing about you how you think your friends are proof when ordinary kindnesses are involved. I think you’ll find that your friends are probably more surface driven than you realize. I think you’ll see that their likely more interested in having a pleasant time with you in a religious setting rather than enjoying Jesus’ death and resurrection alongside you (another post for another day). Who knows maybe I’m talking about you too. Maybe I’m just talking about me

But I’m still interested in this question: Why Christians don’t love each other?

So what am I really talking about? Where’s my proof? What’s my deal and where’s the catch?

You mean you don’t see the division? How many denominations are out there? More than 38,000? How many church bodies within those denominations are bickering and fighting with each other? How many pastors in the same alliance are incessantly competing against each other for greater prominence within their little slice of the Kingdom?

Yes, I know that Mormons deny the deity of Christ. But do you really think that Mormons represent the general views of Jesus’ divinity when it comes to the other 37,999 denominations that are considered to be Christian? Yes, I understand the trouble you have with the Roman Catholic Church’s view of liturgy and the various other rituals they entertain at mass, but they’re not even counted among the 38,000 were talking about here. I know that there is no question that we have Gospel essentials that are non-negotiable. I’m not pretending these essentials don’t exist, and I don’t for a moment imagine that a lack of these essentials in a church body damages the possibility of fellowship.

But I also don’t believe that most or all of 38,000 denominations out there have stumbled into or are flirting with full-blown heresy. Do you?

We’re divided. And we’re divided less over the Truth and more over whether I prefer to drink grape juice or wine at communion and whether or not I think the end of the world is going to last seven years or come in a single day.

So again: Why don’t Christians love each other?

Some will read this and think: Well, it’s simply because we’re divided. But that doesn’t answer the original question at all. Just play this out. Why don’t Christians love each other? We’re divided. Why are we divided? Well, it’s because we don’t love each other. This is true, but that doesn’t answer the original question. It just puts us back to square one after we’ve ran in a circle.

The fact that we don’t love each other and are divided should goad us to go looking for the deeper issue here.

Why don’t Christians love each other? It’s because we don’t fully believe in Jesus. This is why we divide over the smallest thing while we ignore the biggest things. The things that should unite us together are overlooked for the smallest things that will tear us apart. Our unbelief is why we have so little love for each other and this little love that should show us how little love we have for Jesus.

It’s our lack of faith that has led to so many denominations to sprout up and it’s our lack of love that is why we can’t even get along with our theological kin. We don’t love, because we don’t believe. Since we don’t believe, we don’t love. Sadly, it really is that simple.