This is the fourth post in my series of reading and responding my way through Francis Schaeffer’s book: The Mark of the Christian (you can read the online edition here).A DELICATE BALANCE
In this next section, Schaeffer pointedly states that this love for both fellow believers (the first section) and those outside the church (the second) must be kept in balance, a “delicate balance” in his words (p. 10). The “mark” is love. Love for all people, whether churchmen or not, love is still our primary posture towards people, all people.
Key statements from this section (pp. 10-11):
The first commandment is to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul and mind. . . . Notice that the second commandment is not just to love Christians. It is far wider than this. We are to love our neighbor as ourselves.
1 Thessalonians 3:12 carries the same double emphasis: "And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you." Here the order is reversed. . . . (but) it points up the delicate balance — a balance that is not in practice automatically maintained.
In I John 3:11 . . . Speaking to the church, John in effect says, "Don't forget this . . . Don't forget this. This command was given to us by Christ while he was still on the earth. This is to be your mark."
Blessings
3 John 8
Bill H.
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