A short YouTube talk by Holly Furtick arguing that the clearest sign of closeness to God is how you treat other people—especially those you disagree with or who have wronged you—rather than religious performance alone. She cites Luke 6 (love your enemies; be compassionate like the Father) and Jesus’ command in John to love one another as evidence, warns against religious self-righteousness, and urges applying scripture in relationships. The piece ends with a viewer-facing challenge and a standard YouTube sign-off.
Chapters
I heard a preacher once say that the greatest indication of your relationship with God is how you treat others, and not just how you treat the people that you love. Although some of us treat the people we love the worst. But it's how you treat the people you don't understand. It's how you treat the people you don't agree with. It's how you treat people who have perhaps treated you poorly. In Luke 6 In Luke 6, Jesus says, if you love only those who love you, why should you get credit for that? Even sinners love those who love them. Love your enemies, do good to them, lend to them without expecting to be repaid. Then your reward from heaven will be very great and you will truly be acting as children of the Most High, for He is kind to those who are unthankful and wicked. You must be compassionate, just as your Father is compassionate. Because the scary thing is that the people that Jesus was the most harsh with in the Bible were the religious people. People who followed all the rules and attended church and prayed the prayers and made the sacrifices. Because these people have begun to think that doing those things made them closer to God and also better than everyone else. And there have been times in my life when I thought memorizing scripture and participating in Bible studies and abstaining from certain substances would make me feel closer to God. And don't get me wrong, because all of those things play a huge role in my growth as a Christian. But the actual growth comes when I apply all of those things that I'm learning to my relationships and my interactions with others. And the longer I walk with God, here it is again. The more I realize that I feel the closest to God when I'm kind to others. Jesus says later in the Book of John, a new commandment I give you. Love one another as I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this, everyone will know that you are my disciples. If you love one another, the way we treat others is what sets us apart as believers in Christ. So let me ask you this. If the only way for people in your life to know that you are a Christian was not by how often you went to church or how many Bible verses you knew, but was by how you treated other people, what would they say about you? Hey, thanks for watching. I hope that encouraged you today. Make sure that you like subscribe and hit that bell to turn on notifications so that you don't miss out on other videos just like this one. And I'll see you back here next time. Sam.
