I ran across a thought-provoking quote this morning regarding GOD and love (the topic for this week's Sunday's message).
"We become truly personal by loving God
and by loving other humans...
In its deepest sense, love is the life,
the energy, of the Creator in us."
~ Kallistos Ware
and by loving other humans...
In its deepest sense, love is the life,
the energy, of the Creator in us."
~ Kallistos Ware
In essence, we come closer to reaching our potential when we love ... loving God and others. This love becomes our life, giving us God's energy, which we desperately need if we are going to continue living lives of love.
Let's face it, love under our own strength becomes tiring. It requires us to give, and give, and give. If we are only living for self, then we have the propensity to get a little selfish and wonder, "What's in it for me?"
This is contrary to GOD's nature and it needs to be contrary to ours, too! GOD wants us to live lives of love and service, helping others know of GOD's eternal love. GOD is also giving us the opportunity to participate in creation -- and re-creation -- as we acknowledge who we are and our role in the world.
So how are you living? Is GOD's love the energy for your life? Is it the motivation for what you do? Is it the essence of how you relate to God and others? This love is how we come to fulfill our humanity and become who we are created and called to be. This cannot be done under our power, for we are called to live in the flow of GOD!
Let's face it, love under our own strength becomes tiring. It requires us to give, and give, and give. If we are only living for self, then we have the propensity to get a little selfish and wonder, "What's in it for me?"
This is contrary to GOD's nature and it needs to be contrary to ours, too! GOD wants us to live lives of love and service, helping others know of GOD's eternal love. GOD is also giving us the opportunity to participate in creation -- and re-creation -- as we acknowledge who we are and our role in the world.
So how are you living? Is GOD's love the energy for your life? Is it the motivation for what you do? Is it the essence of how you relate to God and others? This love is how we come to fulfill our humanity and become who we are created and called to be. This cannot be done under our power, for we are called to live in the flow of GOD!
Dear friends, since God so loved us,
we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God;
but if we love one another, God lives in us
and his love is made complete in us.
(1 John 4.11-12)
1 comment:
Ok, so I've been thinking a lot about this lately too. I've had some personal thoughts lately about the role that love plays in the church and evangelism. Here's what I think happens sometimes... (not pointing a finger of course) I think that churches can sometimes put such an emphasis on "growing" the church that current members can feel pushed aside or less than...like that feeling of, "ok, now we've got you, let 's move on to getting someone else." In fact, I've spoke to a few people who have had some very negative experiences with this, and it makes me wonder what we can do to help clarify perspectives on evangelism. How do we "love in" (to church members) so that we can "reach out" (to non church members)? This question has been bothering me for a couple months, and your blog inspired me to ask for some extra input. My theory is this: if we can truly love one another deeply within our church families, the Holy Spirit will shine so brightly within in us that others outside will want what we have. Not because I said my church was great or because we have cool programs, but because when you walk into the midst of our church family that the Holy Spirit is so undeniably present that people can't help but want to be a part of that. So, as the end to this long response to your blog, my question is this...how do we put that kind of love into action?
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