The way God works in my life is most often through what I am currently reading, studying, teaching, and thinking about. This isn’t surprising. The way my brain works is to focus on one thing at a time. I do try to be reading a variety of books at once so that I don’t get too zeroed in on one topic. But, if a sermon I am preparing for is on the topic of forgiveness, God usually uses that to help me look at how I’m doing at forgiving people in my life. If I’m teaching on gratitude, God usually uses that to wake me up to how easily I can slip into self-pity and forget all the blessings in my life.
In Bible study at Union Park right now we are studying the Mission of the Church. Why does the church exist? What is the church called to do? This past week we looked at all of the “one-another” passages in the New Testament. There are dozens of them. Church members are called to “outdo one another in showing honor” (Romans 12:10); “show hospitality to one another without grumbling” (1 Peter 4:9); “agree and live in peace with one another” (2 Corinthians 13:11); “be kind to one another and forgive one another” (Ephesians 4:32), “bear with one another in love” (Ephesians 4:2); “encourage one another” (1 Thessalonians 5:11) and “teach and admonish one another” (Colossians 3:16) just to name a few. This list is both humbling because of how often we fall short of this but it is also encouraging. Just imagine how attractive a community committed to learning how to live life together like this would be.
Several of the one-anothers are repeated. Forgive (twice). Bear with (twice). Encourage (three times). Serve (twice). Do not speak against one another (twice). But the command to “love one another” is repeated fourteen times. Fourteen times we are told to love one another. Jesus says it. Paul says it. Peter says it. John says it. Love one another. I think all the other “one-another” passages show us how to love one another. We love each other by showing hospitality and forgiving and honoring and encouraging and teaching and bearing with one another.
On my way home from our Bible Study the other day I was struck by how simple and difficult this is. Jesus says the church should be known for its love for one another. And he roots our love for each other in his love for us. “Just as I loved you, you also should love one another.” We know what it is like to feel loved by others. Yet it is often really hard to love people.
This month (and hopefully for a lot longer than that) consider spending some time each day praying for one or two members or friends of the church. Use the directory so you cover everyone. Pray that God would show you how to love each person and that they would feel loved. You might disagree with that person politically, they might have different tastes in music or interests, they might seem grumpy or hard to get to know. But we aren’t told to love the people we like or the people with whom we easily relate. We are told to love one another. Period. Full stop. Remember you're not always easy to love either. And they have to pray for you.
During your prayer time if you feel God is nudging you to send a letter or a text message or invite someone over to dinner or to get some coffee - act on it. Trust the Spirit. Jesus says when we love one another everyone around us will know that we belong to him.
Grace and peace,
Doug