How Would Your Life Change If You Led A Life of Love?

How Would Your Life Change If You Led A Life of Love?

Good Morning Friends,

Today’s passage reminds us what we committed to when we signed up to follow Jesus. The words prompt us to take seriously our Christian job description as loving ambassadors, servant leaders and righteous co-workers in a ministry of reconciliation. They tell us to be clear and not lukewarm about our faith…to be careful what we promise. So, How Would Your Life Change If You Led A Life of Love?

Scripture: For the love of Christ urges us on, because we are convinced that one has died for all; therefore all have died. And he died for all, so that those who live might live no longer for themselves, but for him who died and was raised for them. From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way. So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

2 Corinthians 5:14-21 (NRSV)

Message: The to do list for Christians is a tough one. We are to die with Christ and no longer live just for ourselves but for others as well. It takes all that we have, and then a lot of grace to tackle what must be done. Many have tried it and failed and walked away from the job. Jesus after all does not promise us an easy road. But Jesus does promise to be with us every step of the way. He does not promise us a life with no struggles, he only promises to help us get through every struggle. But can we cannot truly say something is worth it, something is of great value, if it does not cost something. If it is easy, if it does not cost, if it does not demand something of us, it loses its meaning. Our salvation cost Jesus everything, and it will cost us everything too. Being a Christian is only possible because of the great work that God has done in Christ, but it does require our exertion to maintain the growth. Thankfully we labor for Jesus in the shadow of the Cross and through the power of the Spirit. Friends, we all need Jesus. And we all need someone that cares enough to step out of their comfort zone, to share what society often tells them not to share… the message of reconciliation to God. Friends, the power of God will work through us as we affirm that it is God’s treasure inside our jars of clay. This reconciliation is difficult to achieve for it involves our promotion of our need of God. It involves the breaking of our vanity and the creation in us of a contrite heart that seeks forgiveness. Friends, God is sovereign. Saying yes to God’s will for us to love is the only way to salvation. Loving Jesus involves the difficult task of loving everyone but hating sin, especially our own.

And So, seeing through the eyes of love is as seeing through the eyes of God and as such gives us a world of experience in which to engage in doing good. For here the love of Christ in us controls us and reconciles us to God, so we might no longer live just for ourselves but in Christ as a new creation.

Pray we are convinced of the power of Christ and the purpose of the cross. Pray we praise God for the good example of Jesus. Pray we encourage loving role models. Pray we live as examples for others. Pray we admit our condition and accept the cure. Pray we have a purpose rooted in a love for others that glorifies our Savior. Pray we see that which God wants us to see. Pray that God sees the possibilities in us when others are confused by appearances. Pray we glimpse in love His reality. Pray we serve a God who sees when everyone else does not. Pray that we believe that God has a plan for our lives. Pray that we fulfill a dream to become significant because of what God is doing in and through us. Pray we not try to survive by pretense. Pray we be who God wants us to be. Pray we become the Body of Christ Together. Pray we see through the eyes of love.

Blessings,

John Lawson