In today's society, we often hear people trying to define who the "true" Christians are.  Each group wants to define true Christianity in a way that includes their own group but excludes others.  Gay Christians are often in the excluded category, but then some pro-gay Christians turn around and exclude the more conservative Christians, as if that somehow made things better.

We do have an instinctive understanding that not everyone who adopts the label of "Christian" is truly a follower of Christ, but how do we know how to distinguish the true Christians from the false ones?  One idea might be the well-known song which says, "They will know we are Christians by our love."  We should shine a love in this world that sets us apart from non-believers and draws others to Jesus.

Think about what sets you apart as you read this passage.

1 John 3:16-23 (NIV)

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.  If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?  Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.  This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us.  For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.

Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him.  And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us.