May the mumbling commence!
What is the bottom line in the Christian life? It’s not the bottom line that many people
think about – the bottom line of money or wealth or fame or fortune. The bottom line is love. It’s that simple, that strong, and that
difficult to accomplish. Read from Song
of Songs chapter eight:
“Place me like a seal over your heart,
or like a seal on your arm.
For love is as strong as death,
and its jealousy is as enduring as the grave.
Love flashes
like fire,
the brightest
kind of flame.
Many waters cannot quench love;
neither can rivers drown it.
If a man tried to buy love with everything he owned,
his offer would be utterly despised." (Verses 6-7)
Love rivals the strength of death and endures even as the
grave. It’s the most intense hotspot in
the fire that cannot be quenched or drowned.
And love cannot be bought. It’s a
free gift of devotion.
Even if everything else in our lives seems right… even
if everything we do is positive and just, if love is absent we have failed as
Christians to emulate Christ. Read from
the letter to Ephesus as recorded in Revelation chapter two:
"Write this letter to the angel of the church in
Ephesus. This is the message from the one who holds the seven stars in his
right hand, the one who walks among the seven gold lampstands:
I know all the things you do. I have seen your hard work and your patient endurance. I know you don't tolerate evil people. You have examined the claims of those who say they
are apostles but are not. You have discovered they are liars. You have patiently
suffered for me without quitting.
But I have this
complaint against you. You don't love me
or each other as you did at first! Look
how far you have fallen from your first love! Turn back to me
again and work as you did at first. If
you don't, I will come and remove your
lampstand from its place among the churches.
But there is this about you that is good: You hate the
deeds of the immoral Nicolaitans, just as I do.
Anyone who is
willing to hear should listen to the Spirit and understand what the Spirit is
saying to the churches. Everyone who is
victorious will eat from the tree of life in the paradise of God. (Verses
1-7)
Just look at the lengthy list of
the good that the church in Ephesus has done!
Yet they do these things without love in their hearts – love for God and
for each other. That removes the light
of the Lord from them. Jesus told us
that we would be known by our love for one another. Remove love and all else is in vain.
And how do we show love to
God? Read from Isaiah chapter one:
“Wash
yourselves and be clean! Let me no longer see your evil deeds. Give up your
wicked ways. Learn to do good. Seek
justice. Help the oppressed. Defend the orphan. Fight for the rights of widows.
"Come now, let us argue this
out," says the Lord. "No matter how deep the stain of your
sins, I can remove it. I can make
you as clean as freshly fallen snow.
Even if you are stained as red as crimson, I can make you as white as wool.” (Verses 16-18)
Let’s replace… displace our wicked
ways with new godly ways. Do good. And what is good? Seek justice – even when it does not go in my
favor. Help the oppressed and the
defenseless. Give voice to them.
And, in this new way of life, we
will stumble. But God is there to remove
our sin as if it had never been. Thank
God! What other response could we have
but love for God and all creation?
Enough mumbling for now…
Peace Out
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