How Do You Treat Fellow Church Members?
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered. It keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
-- 1 Corinthians 13:4-7
We call this the "love" chapter. It is frequently read as weddings as the pastor as he (or she reminds them of what true love is. What we forget is that this chapter was actually written by the Apostle Paul to the Corinthians as they struggled within their church and with the awful environment that lived around them. We can certainly relate today, can't we?
The thing is that we don't think about loving our fellow church members. We don't consider being patient with those who have talked too much -- again. We keep score with those we believe have wronged us. We envy those who are successful. We are proud of what we do for the church, thinking more highly of ourselves than we should and thinking less of others than we should.
In other words, we've forgotten that Jesus said to love our neighbors.
"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these."
-- Mark 12:30-31
Love. That's what it is all about. God loved us and He expects us to love others. But do we? Love, or its lack, really shows when there is a disagreement. Love, or its lack, really shows when we are kind to someone who isn't kind to us.
We've all heard or seen churches that break apart because of disagreements. How sad! what kind of message are we sending to nonbelievers? Why would they want to be apart of that?
Let us love one another and stop fussing over things of this world. What matters? Jesus Christ. He unites us under one umbrella as family. Let's remember that next time we are tempted to focus on what we don't agree on rather than what's really important.
