March 05, 2023
Greetings and blessings to all of you. Christ loves His church. It was His idea. His church consists of “a people called out of darkness and into the light.” Today the Body of Christ and local churches appear to be divided. Why? We are sinners….saved and being sanctified by the grace and mercy of God. This bears repeating in John 13:34-35 it says, “a new commandment I give you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love on another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” If we desire to have the ability to influence people concerning the Lord and to bear fruit, we must have love for one another and become one in the church life. In I Peter 3:8-9 it says, “finally all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another; love as brothers be tenderhearted, be courteous. Not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling but on the contrast… blessing… knowing that you were called to this that you may inherit a blessing.” Also in Eph. 4:1-3 it says, “to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Loving one another is a sign that we belong to Christ. This kind of love begins with having a close deep, intimate relationship with Christ. Our Savior said to us, “If you love me you will keep my commandments.” He is insisting that if we really love Him we will do what he says. We show how little love we have for God when we fail to search the Scriptures for ourselves when He has “hard sayings.” One difficult saying is found in Luke 14:26. “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, even their own life such a person cannot be my disciple.” Many of us who talk about loving Christ do not follow His teaching. Question. Will we love Christ less or more than we love our family? Search your heart before answering. Your answer depends on what kind of “soil” you or someone have planted the “seed” of God in. Read about that in Mark 4:2-9. Bottom line… it will be difficult to love one another if we “do not love the Lord” as He wants to be loved.” Not a worldly kind of love…. forget that! John 4:24 says to Worship Him in Truth and in Spirit and in John 14:15 says, {“If you love me, keep my commands”} so say He in the Word.
With the Love of Christ
First Lady Vivian C. Currie
Pastor ALC