How do we know when God is around?

How would you define a "mature Christian?" What about a follower of Jesus would lead you to think they are mature in the Lord?

Some might say the evidence is the person's holiness and morality - their lifestyle is one that honours God in that they do the right things and don't do the wrong things.

Others might say the evidence is the person's ministry fruitfulness and spiritual gifts - they are used by God to bless others, lead others to Jesus, and they often "move in the Spirit" with accurate words of knowledge, prophecy, and even miraculous gifts.

Still others might say the evidence is the person's habits - they regularly do spiritual practices that connect them to God and others, and they avoid habitual practices that lead them away from wellness.

All of the above are well and good. Jesus does change our morality. He also empowers us with spiritual gifts and fruitfulness in ministry through his Holy Spirit. And of course he encourages practices that lead us toward wellness.

But none of the above, in and of themselves, are alone evidence of being a "mature Christian."

Three hundred years ago, a preacher and theologian named Jonathan Edwards was involved in The First Great Awakening, a time of revival in the United States in the mid-1730s.

One question Edwards pondered was, "How do we know it's God at work?" Many amazing and miraculous things were happening during this time. So Edwards wrote a (very, very long) book called Religious Affections where he studied everything that was happening at the revivals. He asked what fruit / actions (which he called affections) were evidence of God's hand in the revival.

After studying all the outcomes, Edwards came to a very simple but profound conclusion. He said the devil can imitate almost everything happening in these revivals - miracles, spiritual gifts, emotions, and actions. So, as good as these things are, they alone cannot be the evidence we rely on to know if God is at work in a movement or a person's heart.

But there is one thing the devil cannot imitate: love.

Edwards concluded the one evidence that demonstrates God is at work is sacrificial, actionable love, which grows in a person's heart and is demonstrated in their actions. Love for God, love for one another, love for the unlovable:

“But it is doubtless true, and evident from [the] Scriptures, that the essence of all true religion lies in holy love; and that in this divine affection, and an habitual disposition to it, and that light which is the foundation of it, and those things which are the fruits of it, consists the whole of religion.”

~ Jonathan Edwards, Holy Affections

In this Edwards is very much in step with the Apostle Paul who reminds us in 1 Corinthians 13:2-3:

“If I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.”

God is love. Therefore love is the one evidence of God's presence in a church, movement, or heart that the devil cannot replicate, because he is not God. All the other above mentioned evidences are wonderful, but as Paul says, if those other things are there and love is not, then something is amiss.

PAUSE and REFLECT: let's now put the spotlight on ourselves. The number one evidence of God is love. The number one evidence of being a mature follower of Jesus is love. With this - and only this - in mind, would we still call ourselves a "mature Christian"?

To answer that we would have to ask "Am I a loving person? Is this love growing and shaping me, causing me to humble myself, put others before myself, welcome those who are different from me or disagree with me? Is it causing me to be more patient and kind and gracious with myself and with others?"

Take a few moments to reflect on this. Strip away all other evidences - your bible reading, your power in prayer, your church attendance, your emotional experiences, even your social justice actions and your social protest actions. These are fine, but irrelevant for the purpose of this reflection. So take them off the table.

What's left? What remains on the table to give evidence that God has taken hold of and transformed our lives? Hopefully, if Jonathan Edwards and the Apostle Paul have anything to say about it, we can say we are a more loving person in heart and action today than we were when we first met Jesus.

Let us love well, for when we love, we act like Jesus.

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Photo by Diana Vargas on Unsplash