No Grading on a Curve

Many church people believe the Almighty is grading us on a curve. They think God will let them in to Heaven because they are better than some other person is. According to the Scriptures, this is an erroneous idea. The fact is that we are being assessed by one overriding proof in our life. How much do we love other Christians? It is well known that “God is Love” but somehow we don’t think the same should be true of His servants. Maybe John understood this better than most. He wrote about love after learning from Jesus for a few years.

It seems that depending on Jesus may be our place of learning as well. If anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did. 1 John 2:5,6 Jesus walked totally in God’s love and we must do the same. One translation says that God’s love can be brought to completion in us. In other words, love comes from God, through the example given by Jesus, and passed by us to others. This is how God knows what our grade is for a Christian life.

There are people who seem to think that if they are not loving others, then they will take up the slack with prayer or something else. That will not work either because Jesus ties our love directly into the life and death of our soul. We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death.  1 John 3:14 How tragic that a life in the church is lost in eternity because it could not allow love in this world. This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. 1 John 3:16 Can we give up our life for a brother?

The answer depends on whether we have given our life completely to Jesus. The mission of Jesus on earth was to bring God’s love down and make it available to human beings. If we join with the Savior, His mission becomes our own. Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.  Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 1 John 4:7-9 When the love of God is in our heart by the Holy Spirit (Rom 5:5) we really don’t know how much love can be in our life.