Running through my neighborhood is one of my favorite places to ponder. It struck me, as I was running the other day, that after deeply thinking through whatever situation happens to be running through my mind on any particular day, if I think it through all the way, the conclusion I seem to always come to is... love. Putting love above everything else... it's always the answer.
Today, after sharing a meal together, our fellowship group moved outside to the deck to continue our discussion. I love this group that often meets here on Sundays. There is no agenda, except to get together for meaningful conversation. We just take turns bringing up topics to discuss, never knowing where the conversation will take us. One of the things I love about this group is that we respect one another and are not about forcing our opinions on each other. There is no pressure to hide or perform because everyone is loved and accepted just as they are. It's a safe place where everyone is free to take off their masks and be real. When we come together, we leave judgement at the door and put on love which allows us to honestly sort through our journeys together. It's less about coming to agreements and dogmatic conclusions and more about moving in a direction toward Him who is Love.
Todays topic came from 1 Cor. 1:10 where Paul was pleading with the christians to not be divided, but to be perfectly united in mind and thought. I used to read that scripture and think that if everyone would just read the bible and agree with what it said (or agree with what I thought it said), we'd all be united. As I got older, I realized that there were many sincere, spiritual, learned people that read the scriptures and came to some very different conclusions. The way I read that scripture caused more disunity than unity. In fact, it's one of the reasons we have so many denominations. (If you don't agree with me, you're not a christian!) Since all truth is only found in Christ and the rest of us can only see but a poor reflection of it, it seems to me that Paul wasn't calling us to line up all our beliefs with each other, but rather to bear with one another in love as we move in the direction of Christ, following Him to the best of our ability.
Unity is to be based more upon showing love and grace toward one another than upon agreeing with one another. Philippians 3 talks about forgetting what is behind and pressing forward... It says, "And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. Only let us live up to what we've already attained." Romans 14:1-23 is a beautiful illustration of this grace that we are to extend toward one another; "One person's faith allows him to eat meat, another's doesn't... One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike... Therefore let us stop passing judgement on one another." Let us be for one another instead of against one another, connecting with each other in our weakness and loving each other toward fullness.
If we were really to put love above everything else; above doctrine, above the way we live, above being right, above our pride, above our fear... we would find unity. Love is what bridges the gap. It bridges the gap between us and God and between us and another. It's the way christians are called to bridge the gap between God and others (Jn 13:34) because love is the way to healing, wholeness, and transformation. Jesus showed us the way, the narrow path. Love is the answer to everything.
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Thursday, September 13, 2012
We heard back from Kenya
I just received an email from Wayne Jacobson, our pipeline person who connects us with Michael, the man who runs the orphanage in Kenya. Along with the mats, I sent a letter telling Michael that my friend, Eddie, who works in the hospital, is collecting them for us. I asked him to let me know if they helped solve the bedwetting problem and if so, to let me know how many more they needed at this time.
The mats are free, but the shipping is certainly not. I wanted to make sure they worked before I sent more. Apparently, these mats are doing the trick. Praise God! Below I copied and pasted the email Michael sent through Wayne.
The mats are free, but the shipping is certainly not. I wanted to make sure they worked before I sent more. Apparently, these mats are doing the trick. Praise God! Below I copied and pasted the email Michael sent through Wayne.
Dear Brother Wayne,Greeting once more in Jesus Name, thank you very much , yesterday we received the mat it was send with brother whom you recommended him, and he works in Hospital, they are ten in number and he wanted to know how many were required in the center. So we still need twenty of them. You can send our appreciation as below:Dear brother in the lord, on behalf of the Living Loved Christ Hope children care center, we want to send our appreciation for your generous and compassion heart towards this center of orphans, and these mat would be a great blessing because we do waste a lot of blanket after six months because of being wet by children urine. So we tried and saw these will make the blanket and mattress to last longest may the lord bless you, we still need twenty of them.May the lord bless you as you stand with us.YoursBrother Michael
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)