As someone with an affinity for biblical theology I get very excited when I see themes pop up in scripture, especially themes that transcend different authors and types of literature.
Love is a very big deal.
In all my ministry training love isn’t mentioned much. In all the books I’ve read and conferences I’ve attended love isn’t a big theme. Even with the missional movement and organic church movement I don’t believe love is a big theme. I think some people in these movements do love a lot. I believe simpler forms of church make it easier to love.
I wonder if all the tension over missional/attractional is something of a red herring. Maybe our churches aren’t growing (or multiplying) because that is our goal and we know very little of sacrificial love.
<idle musing>
The last sentence says worlds; maybe if our goal weren't to grow and multiply, but instead to love God and others...It is God's church, after all. It seems he should be able to grow it without us getting in the way with our own methods. Maybe we should try letting him love through us.
</idle musing>
1 comment:
Right on!
The blessing of being born again is huge. In Titus 3 the same word Jesus used when He spoke of bringing forth the restoration of all things is used to describe the washing and renewing of the Holy Spirit when we come believe in Jesus Christ and are made new creatures.
Jesus reveals the Father. The Holy Spirit reveals Jesus as Savior and King, opens our hearts to the Word, pours God’s love into our hearts and helps us see, walk and work in the kingdom Jesus inaugurated. We know we know God our Father if we obey Him.
"Now that we have God's approval by faith, we have peace with God because of what our Lord Jesus Christ has done. Through Christ we can approach God and stand in his favor. So we brag because of our confidence that we will receive glory from God. But that's not all. We also brag when we are suffering. We know that suffering creates endurance, endurance creates character, and character creates confidence. We're not ashamed to have this confidence, because God's love has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us” (Romans 5:1-6 GodsWord).
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