We faithfully love the abstract stranger, easily. Do we faithfully love the person beside us, too?
The person who loves with agape love will find a way to do both.
The church of Jesus Christ is at a crux, and we must ask ourselves how it can remain relevant in times like these. While we can embrace our traditions, we must explore the new places God wants us to go and move through his Spirit.
We are in a wilderness now that no one alive has ever seen. And in these times, what will you stock up on in God’s economy? Toilet paper? Hand sanitizer? Or the abundant grace that ensures God will bring us to a brighter and better day?
We should forgive because we were forgiven first, and completely. Until we come to grips with hugeness of that fact, we can’t share that gift from those that need it from us. Where is there some peace work you need to do? Some forgiveness?
We are in a malleable place, where new customs, traditions and institutions can be forged — and in that place is great hope. How will we use this time and place to move more fully into God’s calling of us to love ALL our neighbors?
Maybe this is the time we can learn a better way to be the church. Maybe it’s the time we can learn how many more ways God can be worshipped, and Christ confessed. Maybe it’s a time for us to issue a new invitation and put out a new welcome mat.
When we use our God-given gifts as a confession of faith, they become the gifts we give. They become an act of worship, and they allow us to be instruments of God’s own will. What your gift, or cross, looks like says a lot about who Jesus is to you.
We don’t think we exclude anyone - but if someone came in and did not look like us, would they really be welcome? What if one of them reached in and took a piece of the loaf, and it was your turn next? Would they really be welcome? If the church of Christ is to thrive in these times, we must answer this question.
Fear in our spiritual lives can harm us for three reasons: God has not come to harm us; God does not stand still, and God is meant to be mysterious. All He expects us to do is come to him in faith.
What is the hunger that has no name? It’s the soul reaching out for a closer walk with God and His Christ, and we often trade it for the things that do not feed our real hunger. For whomever feeds us, owns us. Let it be the hand of God.