“By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
John 13:35, NIV.
During Jess’ three-year ministry, He covered an area the size of only about one hundred square miles, traversing most of it on foot. Human logic might suggest that if God had postponed sending Jesus until innovations made traveling and communication easier and quicker, He could have reached more people in less time. Today, four and a half million people fly on planes every single day. And, with the internet available to most people, Jesus could have reached millions in just a few minutes time without even leaving His house!
In spite of the geographic limitations and mode of travel in Jesus’ day, starting with only a handful of disciples, Christianity is currently the largest religion in the world. According to Guinness World Records, The Bible is the most widely distributed book in the world with an estimated five billion copies. The statistics beg the question, what constitutes the popularity of the Gospel message of Jesus Christ over other religions?
Before Jesus was taken captive by Roman soldiers and crucified, He prayed to God that His followers be “sanctified,” meaning, “set apart.” The identifying mark of a Christian, according to Jesus, is that we “love one another.” Friend, to love others is not always easy; it is a challenge in any generation but maybe more so for the twenty-first century. While technology provides the opportunity to reach a broad audience, it is also a platform to say things on paper that are harder to say when face to face. Loving others is as close as our fingertips but, then, so is divisiveness.
Alas, the cyberspace genie is out of the bottle and here to stay. Whether on a device or in person, the real question is, do we just blend into the mosaic of the humanity landscape or do we have something different to offer? The uniqueness of the Christian message is not encumbered by either time or space and does not rely on human logic. The identifying mark of the Christian is to love others just as Christ loves us. Now, let’s go do it!
Sherry Sharp