All we need is love...

The last couple of months, it's really hit me how poorly we really love each other sometimes. And this is among Christians! More often than not, other things that seem important at the time, take precedence over people...over relationships. I too am at fault of this. We are, in fact, only human. It seems to me, though, not much is being done to correct this. Even in churches, it seems as though most sermons are about how to live the "incredible life" and becoming who God has planned for us to be... which is great! But I feel like we may be missing the mark, just a little bit. of course we are... like I said, we are only human. We do the best we can at the time, and do what we think God may be calling us to do. And of course, nothing in this life will ever fully satisfy. But I still think we are not loving as well as we ought to, as we are called to. By the way, that IS the greatest commandment...

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength. The second is this: Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment great than these.(Mark 12:30-31)"

"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.(John 13: 34-35)"

From the lips of Jesus himself! The commandment was not to judge others; it was not to turn people away because of their sin; it was not to stick in our "holy huddles"; it was not to make "church" a sunday event. Love. With everything we do, we should ask, "does this show love?". Now, I'm not talking about the hippie/Beatles/1960's kind of love... I'm talking about the love God gives us! That means we shouldn't just go around doing whatever want, knowing that God and our fellow christians will still love us. This kind of love, if we truly accept it and believe it, WILL change us. it will effect everything that we do--and that includes everything we do at church. this MUST be the focus of the church. If we are called to love, that means that we must worship in love. serve in love. teach in love. rebuke and correct in love. disciple in love. have community in love.

This doesn't mean that life/church/relationships won't get messy... as stated earlier, we are human. but if we are loving each other well, then we can get thru the messes together.

That's it for now...