Jesus' Spiritual Barometer

During our Winter Sermon Series, Disciple, we are exploring Jesus' definition of what means to be a Christian. And according to Christ, a Christian is one who follows Jesus. Salvation is about transformation and Jesus' call to salvation is something like this: "Repent and believe in Me (Who I am and what I am doing) and be thereby graciously transformed through following me." Each week, then, we examine a word - a theme that Jesus said would characterize His followers. So we have been exploring topics like Repentance, Kingdom, Justice, etc. and what Jesus has to say about these ideas. This week our word is "Love." Jesus said, "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another" (John 13.34-35, NASB). Jesus also upped the love ante when He said the whole OT hangs on the two commandments to love God and to love people (Matthew 22.34-40). So for Jesus, the defining quality for a disciple - that "thing" for which Christians should have a reputation is love. Furthermore, according to Jesus, spiritual formation is about being graciously transformed into a better lover of God and others.  Today I read this quote by John Ortberg in his book, The Life You've Always Wanted.

The true indicator of spiritual well-being is growth in the ability to love God and people. If we can do this without the practice of any particular spiritual disciplines, then we should by all means skip them … It is possible to spend every waking moment “practicing spiritual disciplines” but doing them in such a way as to make us less rather than more loving. In that case, of course, we would be better off if we did none at all. 

What are your thoughts?