Sometimes, great truths can seem to be too simple. Not that simple is easy, necessarily, but it is . . . well, simple. Uncomplicated. Straightforward. Your basic “if this, then that.” Came across one of those great truths this morning as I was reading in John’s first epistle.

Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling.

(1John 2:10 ESV)

Love your brother? Abide in the light. Love your brother? No cause for stumbling? Simple. Right?

How do I know I’m abiding in Christ — something that’s pretty intangible? Seems I can gauge it pretty well by something very tangible — what’s my overall posture and relationship with other believers?

And I don’t think we’re talking just about those believers who I might consider to be in “my tribe”, but how do I regard those brothers and sisters who see things differently than I do? Do I love them? Do I feel a sincere affection for them? Am I able to extend toward them goodwill and esteem them better than myself? Do I love them? If yes, then I am abiding. If no, then I’m doing something less than living in the Vine and allowing the Vine to live through me.

Is it that simple? I’m thinking.

But what I’m really chewing on is part two of this simple (not easy) dynamic. Love my brother? Prize my sister? Then no cause for stumbling. Or, as the original puts it no scandal.

Scandalon . . . that’s the original word translated as stumbling.

No traps. No triggers. No snares. No scandal. There’s something about loving the family of God that makes navigating this world a little less treacherous; that reduces the likelihood of being disgraced, discredited, or dismissed.

Noodle on it a bit. Think back to a time when you stumbled, a situation where you ended up with mud on your face, disrepute before others, and awareness of sin in your heart. And tell me if there wasn’t an element of not loving others involved. I am guessing there could have been.

What if, in that situation, you had been loving that brother or esteeming that sister? What if, the love of Christ was the prevailing filter through which you viewed others because you were abiding in Christ? What if brotherly affection rather than bothered annoyance was your overall mood? No scandal, if that had been the case? I’m thinkin’ . . .

If I want to walk in a manner worthy of my calling (Eph. 4:1) — and that is what I want — then it seems that loving my brother, extending goodwill to my sister, is going to be a pretty big part of that walk. And, if I’m picking up what John is laying down, it’s that simple.

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. . . Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.

(1Corinthians 13:1-2, 7-8a ESV)

Seems like a pretty simple approach to ensuring no scandal.

Simple. Not easy.

Only by His grace. Always for His glory.