08/12/2024
God, by his grace, has proven over and over how much his people—the church—mean to him. Our Lord rejoices over us. Knowing this, we should rejoice always while serving him in our lives.
How do we serve the Lord best? It's really not that hard to figure out as there are really just two commandments in all of the 66 books of the Bible. They all speak of Jesus and they all speak of love...loving our Lord and loving our neighbor as ourselves.
It's so easy to love others who love us back--like minded, cut-from-the-same-cloth people with whom we have things in common and share the same vision on politics, sports, religion or just about anything including our taste in clothing or hobbies. Rubbing elbows with our like-minded fellows is great, but stepping beyond that is where the true love comes forth...where it might be awkward or something we're just not willing to do because it's a challenge.
Where it's harder to love others is when they are different or just the opposite of the way we roll. Sometimes, folks are just plain annoying, yet God calls us to love them, too.
Our every day life in the world is full of encounters with folks who are at odds with our vision and who chafe us or who have hurt us in the past. Everyone seeks their own way oftentimes, and it butts up against others, sometimes unknowingly. Frankly, we as Christ followers are no exception. So, how does one love the unlovable, annoying, chafing souls? One way is to step back and see them as their loving creator sees them.
A small microcosm of the world is our own church. It's divided among various denominations, but all who name the name of Christ are of ONE body. While there are favorites among our brethren that make the worship time sweeter, we're also called to love everyone with that same fervor. Putting our feelings aside for the task of loving the unlovable is to let the Jesus inside us love them. That's how we grow.
If we fail to love our own brother or sister-in-Christ, we are only fooling ourselves into thinking we're doing the will of God, and it's no better than the Pharisees who looked perfect on the outside but inside they were empty.
God doesn't always ask us to do what feels right; sometimes, we need to extend ourselves beyond our comfort level and reach out through the strength of the Holy Spirit. Staying in our own comfort boxes, we can get stifled and not grow into the man or woman God made us to be.
At Grace Bible Church, we're learning every week how much God wants us to be more like Christ and less like ourselves. Come visit for morning worship at 11 a.m. and Sunday School is at 10 a.m. Looking forward to serving Christ together with you through the blessed spirit of Jesus!