On a quiet Friday morning. I was wrapping up my
study on Matthew 19:1-12, where we find stuff like
divorce, adultery and eunuchs. My thoughts were focused on how to
communicate the differences between the heavenly and earthly family in order to
focus on a higher calling of belonging to our heavenly family.
When I could sit no more, I took a walk around the church
building in thought and prayer. Along the way, I stopped and looked outside to
find two interlocking hearts in the snow made by cars randomly coming in and
out of the parking lot outside the church. I quickly took a picture in order to
preserve this find.
Worried that maybe what I saw in my picture was just my
imagination, I showed it to a couple of trustworthy people later that afternoon. To my satisfaction they saw two hearts.
Then I did what any enthusiastic photographer would do:
1. Share on Facebook. Got a few affirmations.
2. Send to my favorite “Geek Talk Show in the Universe”
which is CNET’s Tomorrow Daily. Got featured on Episode 126.
And 3. Ponder how a preacher can use such a picture on a Valentine's weekend.
It was almost a week later, that I showed one of the ladies
my picture at a daytime Bible study. She saw, “Hearts of unity.”
MY TIE Moment: GRASP God’s Unifying Love
There are many snapshots taken in our churches' moments of life
together. These moments can be found in our normal church
activities where we regularly come together to celebrate, learn and grow common
ground together. Other snapshots might be taken during times of crisis such as
illnesses, conflicts, and sudden tragedies. If we were to take a snapshot in
any of these given moments in the lifespan of our churches, would we capture a
picture of unifying hearts?
As I have pondered my picture of unifying hearts that were
captured only in a specific moment, I thought about how Scripture can guide us
to gain the abilities to capture unifying hearts in our churches snapshots.
Unifying in God’s love gives us the ability to…
…Gain confidence
in the depth of God’s Love
“I am convinced that nothing can separate us from God’s
Love.” (Romans 8:38)
The world tries its best to convince each of us that we are
lesser value for any reason. Often we will believe because
people abandon us so does God. When we know God’s love for the world is that of
sacrifice, patience, and even a desire to be present with us, then we are able
to respond to God’s love with full confidence. If death cannot separate us from
God’s love, then how can we remain divided within our hearts and churches about
the great power of God’s love to unify our hearts?
…Remain in God’s
Love
“Remain in my love. When you obey me, you remain in my love…”
(John 15:9b-10a)
When we choose to obey Christ
we will respond in His love. We will choose to accept the title “child of God”
as the greatest title we could receive (Matt. 18:4) We will choose to win back
a Christian who sins against us (Matt. 18:15). We will choose to forgive others
on God’s standard (Matt. 18:21-35). And we will choose to give mercy to others
rather than sacrifice as a response to the Lord of the Sabbath (Matt.
12:7-8). We must respond to God’s love
if we are to love others with His love in life.
…Assist each
other in maturity
“Don’t pretend that you love others. Really love them. Hate
what is wrong. Stand on the side of good. Love each other with genuine affection,
and take delight in honoring each other.” (Rom. 12:9-10)
Hypocrisy is the biggest turn off to church. So why do
churches put on a pretend show to love each other by being merely being
courteous? There lies a danger
that being a courteous congregation disguises itself as being a loving church
because there is an absence of conflict. Our
love is revealed when conflict arises through lies, gossip, diversity and
pressure to agree in biblical non-essentials.
However, if a church is building
up a maturity to respond to life on the basis of what is right, stands for what brings out God’s best, and
delights in honoring each other as genuine responses of love, then the power of
bitter feelings in conflict has a diminishing power over the church. Mature
Christians believe God’s glory can overcome all shadows of darkness.
…Strengthen our
Response to Bless others
“Finally, all of you should be of one mind, full of sympathy
towards each other, loving one another with tender hearts and humble minds. Don’t
repay evil for evil…Instead pay them back with a blessing. That is what God
wants you to do…” (1 Peter 3:8-9)
God wants us to be unified in blessing others in any
situation. The way to build strength in blessing others is to practice blessing
others within the church. One of the greatest ways to be strong in blessing is
by building up empathy in the church. Having the ability to understand the
difficulties of people’s lives is difficult but not impossible. Meeting the
needs of others just because one can gives amazing life to the giver and
receiver. Withholding the urge to get
back at those who have burned us in the church allows the best opportunity to
restore broken relationships.
…Prove we are full
of Eternal Life
“If we love our Christians brothers and sisters, it proves
we have passed from death to eternal life…” (1 John 3:14)
Loving one another proves that God’s loves is in our
churches. We show the ability to grasp how God can enable transformation in all
of our circumstances. Without love for
one another, then who cares who comes and goes or what the consequences of
others misdeeds are. When we fail to love the people in our churches we do not
care to correct or bless them. We only care to keep in our church who and what
we like and dispose who and what we do not like. This only shows that a worldly
love exists in our churches that will crowd out God’s love.
Are we taking seriously the need to GRASP God’s love that will Unify our love in the life of our churches?
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