Thursday, November 15, 2007
People of Grace
The church today has lost it's power because it has refused to love as Christ commanded. We no longer take seriously the two greatest commandments - to love God with all that we are and to love our neighbor as ourselves. (Matthew 22) We forget that Christ taught us that if we do not give our lives away as God did, and is described in Phillipians 2, God will not regonize us. Christ taught to feed the hungry, visit the sick, vist the prisoners, and clothe the naked. (Matthew 25) We are also taught to love those that we consider our enemies (Matthew 5) and return kindness instead of anger when they attempt to hurt us. It appears that the whole book of I John has been forgotten along with the encouragement of I Corinthians 13. We are called to make a difference in this world because this kind of love was given to us by the One who created us. We should be changing the world using the same kind of love. A love that helps, serves, meets needs, and gives itself away expecting nothing in return no matter who is on the receiving end. I created this so that it will encourage you to make your Christianity and spirituality a day to day, real, effective practice in your life. I believe that we should live as Christ each and everyday, in each and every encounter and thought that we have. I hope you will begin the challenge and serve others!
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I Agree. I think that much of Christianity today is presented on a basis that makes its appeal to the natural mind and worldly culture. In this aspect our Christianity finds expression in seeking our own welfare. Such as, How to be more personally satisfied with our relationships, how to be financially independent, how to be more successful in our own personal endeavors, how to be a better us. But I think you are right when you imply that sacrificial love is the paradox to a true fulfilled life. This type of love; feeding the poor, visiting the prisoner, endeavoring to make "someone elses life" better doesn't make natural sense to our own desire for hapiness and therefore the audience that will stop to listen to it is small. But our Egos don't like small so most of us speak what is popular so that we will be popular, so that our audience will be large, so that we will feel sucessful and in the right crowd. Could it be that the following verse gives a clue as to the definition of a Gospel-type of love, "Those who save their life will loose it, but those who loose their lives for My sake will find it." Who in their natural self wants to love this way at the cost of their own comfort and even life? I know that I do not desire to cultivate that type of love naturally. But I do endeavor to know it and be in pursuit of it because I have been given the grace to trust Him who spoke the words and therefore trust that somehow this pursuit will be fruitful and to my best advantage. Anyway, I agree with your call to love sacrificially and your posts on the Gospel of grace. Keep on feeding the flock
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