Walk in Love

It's been over two weeks since I started this Blog, and though I've really wanted to add some content to It, life has not give me allot of extra time. I finally feel however, that I've come across something I really want to share as it has touched me deeply and provided a necessary reminder of how I truly do fall short of the glory of God, but that His love for me is great.

Today, I took a hiatus from my normal church-going routine and visited a Church I have thought of often, Eternal Church in Fort Mill, SC. I have to be honest and tell you that though I have been wanting to peruse the doors of this Church for some time, my true motivation for attending today was the knowledge that there would be a free breakfast (which was quite delicious).

The newly initiated College and Career class was a good ice-breaker for the message; the class is currently doing a study on worship and this morning's discussion focused on evangelism as a form of worship - good stuff.

Here is the central part of what I want to share with you though - love. You may often hear someone ask, what is love? (baby don't hurt me?), sorry i had to do that.

After the C&C class, pastor Skip MacMillan gave a very important sermon about love, one that stirred up a great desire within me to love others and served as a necessary reminder of how I should live my life; I will do my best do distill some of the powerful concepts that I walked away with.

How will they know you?

John 13:35

By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.

Take a moment to consider what that means in your life. I had the pleasure of hearing it said of a close friend of mine recently that "I can really see in them that they love the Lord very much," this was so encouraging and convicting to me, there had been no confession of faith or breakdown of theology; yet this person could see the Love of the Lord visibly. I don't know if anyone has ever said that about me, and I can't say I expect that anyone has - but how great would it be to honor your Lord with such evident love.

An empty cup fills nothing

It's somewhat easy to repeat the words love others, love others; but how can one love another out of emptiness? If you believe that you are nothing without Christ, then there is no way of offering spiritual love on your own. Be filled by Christ, go to his Word daily and meet with him in quiet places so that He can fill your cup and show you how to love others.

Fulfill the joy of the Lord

Philippians 2:2-5

2:2
fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.

2:3
Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.

2:4
Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.

2:5
Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,

Again, I ask you to read those verses and ask yourself what do they really mean in your life? I submit that part of this call to love is a call to be unconditional.

In John 17:21 Christ prays:

that they all may be one, as You, Father, [are] in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.

To be one with others in Christ is to put aside all other differences, personal - theological and otherwise. St. Augustine is quoted as saying "In essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty, in all things charity." This concept is true of debates and differences; though some base theological views may warrant a separation (i.e. rejection of the trinity) others cause vain disputes. And even in times of essential differences, we are called to love as difficult as it may be.

How might I love others?

Ask yourself this question, and then go to the Word with prayer. 2 Corinthians 6:2b says

Behold, now [is] the accepted time; behold, now [is] the day of salvation.

So ask yourself again, how can I love others for God? The answer may not be easy or simple but it should be in every area of your life. Believe, and know that all people need the Lord, all people are as empty inside as you are without Christ.

Do it

We have a responsibility to show love, but when we look at is as such it becomes mechanical and difficult. Think first on the great love God has for you, and I promise you it will compel you to love those around you. My conviction came from the simple realization that I had forgotten this love, I knew of it but had forgotten what it truly meant to me.

It is so hard to love strangers and those in opposition to you, but let us not neglect the people who are closest to our lives - the confidants and friends we take for granted every day. The easiest people to love are often the ones we love the least; take time to show love, Agape, charity, sacrifice today and everyday after you have seen how God truly loves you.

One of my roommates wears a particular t-shirt on a regular basis that says "Walk in love" on the front, I think I just started to understand what that means.

It's Here.

Who has time for blogging? Seriously, who has time for blogging!?

I don't have time to brush my own teeth, study for my classes, read my bible, or, in some cases, eat my breakfast. I've been running from blogs since I first heard the word (and grossly mis-interpreted its meaning.)

A few semesters ago, I was 'forced' to get a blog - for the furtherance of academia of course. I sort of enjoyed it, and I didn't have to actually tell anyone about my blog, or admit I even had one.

So why am I writing this now? Seriously, what am I doing? Probably just avoiding school work; there aren't enough things in my life right now to distract me from my work.

There is one thing I can say for sure though; my life is on the web, and there isn't much hope of that changing anytime soon. A very large part of my major is learning how to write for the web, and I don't even have a blog, or at least I didn't. In this spirit, I think it's time I caved to the machine, practiced my writing, and sought to improve my collaborative web-presence.

So welcome to the blog, a collection of everything - appropriately named I think, because there are no rules in this blog - I'll link this to my Google account, which is linked to my life, and I'll certainly try to incorporate facebook in it all. Why would you want to read my blog? I honestly don't know - but if you decide you want to, I'd like to hear about it.