Love

One of my goals recently has been to memorize scripture, but I don’t just want to know what scripture says so I decided to have a scripture for every week. A couple weeks ago my verses of the week were 1 Corinthians 13:1-3. The verses many of us know come right after these known as the “love verses”. ie: love is patient, love is kind, etc. But most of us don’t know what precedes the “love verses”. Verses 1-3 say: “If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging symbol. If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all the mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but dot have love, it profits me nothing.” Prior to my time with this scripture I was holding the idea that the advanced Christian life was Great Spiritual Works. I thought that miracles of healing, prophecy, visions, dreams, and revival were the output of a deeper relationship with Jesus. Two things have changed in my mind. One, that this previous list of Great Spiritual Works can and will be poured out on anyone who is willing, open and desperate for Jesus. And two, that the deeper life in Jesus = love. God can grant us spiritual gifts of all kinds, but without His love pouring through us it is empty. Without His love in our hearts it is merely an act, an act of God for sure, but what He desires is for our heart to be changed. He want us to be transformed as He pours out through us to transform our world.

Unity

I wrote this as a gift for our Mexico City mission team on the last day of the trip. I wrote it in response to the many different ideas we heard throughout our stay in Mexico City. Here it is:

We disagree. The body of Christ disagrees. Jesus told us we were a body. He told us this to explain that we all have different parts. The feet are used for walking, the hands are used for making things, the mind is made for thinking. The arm does not say that because the leg is different to get rid of it. The body would not fully work if it did. Instead it understands that every part has its use and is needed. We as a body of Christ need to do the same. We are all different, with many different ways of viewing theology and ministry, but despite our differences we are called to work together as one. Even if I differ in many ways from a brother or sister we can find our similarity in our Lord Jesus Christ and serve and worship together. Like a body needs all the different parts to function, so too does the church. We need our differences to be complete. Jesus Christ chose His church, so let us trust that He chose for a purpose. A body has enough challenges from outside itself, let us stop the internal was and unite for what our ultimate purpose is: to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength and love your neighbor as yourself.