One of the great joys of parenthood (and grandparenthood!) is watching the development of our children as they learn how to walk.  That’s the way we always speak of it . . .they ‘learn’ to walk.  But to use this language seems to imply that someone is teaching them.  Yet, we all know that our little ones, if they are healthy, just do it. They first roll over. Then they crawl.  Then they stand.  And then comes the very first step, and they are off walking all over the place to our great delight or consternation!

Strictly speaking, however, no one really ‘teaches’ them to do this.  Our babies don’t attend walking classes, or watch instructional videos, or read manuals on the subject.  There is something designed into them by our Heavenly Father that prompts them to move, to progress towards that first step.

This coming Lord’s Day, we will consider something else that just happens to us, that is, to Christians.  Having been redeemed and given a new nature, it comes naturally to us as new creations in Christ Jesus.  The Apostle Paul once put it this way:

“Now concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another” (1 Thessalonians 4:9).

All who are in Christ have already been taught to practice brotherly love.  The ‘teaching,’ conducted by our Father as He deposited His Spirit within us, was accomplished when we received a new heart in the miracle of regeneration.    Now, we just need to do it!

This is why the Apostle Peter, in 1 Peter 1:22, commands all God-taught believers to “love one another earnestly from a pure heart.”   We know how to do this.  We’ve graduated from our Lord’s school.  The desire and the ability to love stirs us to move just like our Father’s design for our children’s bodies makes them roll, wiggle, and eventually stand and walk.

We just need to put love into practice!

Our text for Sunday’s message will come from 1 Peter 1:22-23, and we will address the next ‘Gracious Command of the Gospel’ that calls us to do what we already know how to do–to love each other deeply and energetically!