We have just passed an election. What an election! Fear and panic still looms. Uncertainty still hangs in the air. Anger waits to attack if provoked...and it's easily provoked.
But none of that affects how I need to live. None of those things change my primary task, my primary call. In fact, what God calls me to do, to be is even more essential, more important because of what is happening around us.
It's contained in four little words...this call, this mandate of how I'm to live. It's found in 1 Corinthians 16:14 and it is this,
"Do everything in love."
That's it. That's my calling as a Christian. The most important and difficult four words ever put together!
It means when I'm hated my response is love. When I'm falsely labeled my response is love. When I'm shunned by former friends, I love. When hurt by someone I thought cared, I love.
It means, simply, living like Christ. It is the high calling of every Christian...but honestly, we have not done it well in recent years. Fears have taken over and we have lived poorly. But we must recapture the essence of our faith, it's the life of Christ lived out.
It is the most difficult life. It means I love you enough to tell you there is a hell to shun, there is a heaven to gain. It means I love you enough, truly love you to tell you that sin is still wrong. It means I care enough to want your good and not simply your approval.
Do everything in love. The most important and most difficult four words ever written.
I hope, in the new year, to model them more intentionally than I ever have, to live in Christ in a way that this lifestyle becomes normal for me....even when it's hard.
Do everything in love. In a world filled with anger, fear and uncertainty these words invite us to a different way of living, a life like the one we follow....whatever the cost.
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