Have you ever felt like you just don’t belong, like you aren’t part of the group? No matter how much you try to become friends and grow close you still feel like you’re on the outside looking in? Yeah sad to say it happens, and what’s even more disturbing to me is that it happens quite frequently in the church today. Yes I can hear you saying, “That’s sad but true Tim, but I’m so glad it doesn’t happen in our church”, take a closer look my friends, it happens, and it’s happening in most churches today, yes even ours.
There’s a longing in each of us to belong to find people who will accept us for who we are, not for who we pretend to be. It can be pretty tiring to feel like we have to veil or adapt who we are in order to please others.
The Bible says this in the book of John 13:34-35 "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.” By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."
“But I’ve been let down by church,” you might say. It’s no secret that the church isn’t always great at loving. If you stick around long enough, you’re likely to be hurt in one way or another. But when we focus on the disappointments of our church experience, we can fall into a common pitfall in our search for belonging. We can spend so much time waiting for our church community to become what we want it to be that we forget our role in helping to make it a place marked by remarkable love.
We need to constantly be aware of the GMO’s that surround us, you say “what are GMO’s ? , they are the “greedy,miserable,obnoxious ! and yes they exist is church too. We need to surround ourselves with people that empower us, people that encourage and lift us up, there is no room in anyone’s life for those that tear you down, constantly destroying you, stay away from “fake or negative friends, you just don’t need them.
“Love is patient. Love is kind. Love isn’t jealous. It doesn’t sing its own praises. It isn’t arrogant. It isn’t rude. It doesn’t think about itself. It isn’t irritable. It doesn’t keep track of wrongs. It isn’t happy when injustice is done, but it is happy with the truth. Love never stops being patient, never stops believing, never stops hoping, and never gives up.” 1 Corinthians 13:4-7
After 31 years of marriage, I love my wife more today than I did the day we said I do. The love we share grew over time ,through hardships, disappointments and moments of intense fellowship. My love for my wife is not based on what she did right and neither is her love for me. Our vows were not based upon a feeling because our feelings change daily. Over the years, I have found that love therefore, is a choice. Love is the foundation for all healthy relationships. The love I am referring to is” agape” love. Agape is wholly selfless, spiritual, and unconditional. That is the way God loves us. Regardless to how we treat him, His love never changes. Our relationships should NOT be based upon the love stories that bombard our television screens, the romance novels we read, or how good we make each other feel. Instead, our love for each other should be based solely upon the word of God. He teaches us how to love through His endless love for us. His love never fails. Love is demonstrated in our actions. An excellent example is John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.”
My friends I’m not pointing a finger at you, because when I do that, four more are pointing back at me. We just need to be aware of our actions, are we fulfilling what God has called us to do? Are we being ambassadors for Christ as we are called to be? I make no excuses for my short comings, I have let God down more times than I care to recount, and that doesn’t make it right. What is most important is that we are aware of whom we are and what God has called us to do, and that my friend is LOVE.
Romans 8:35 & 39 says “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? Neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”. Love is the essence of God’s character and He never contradicts His own character. His love never waivers – despite personal perception or feeling – He loves us with an everlasting, unfailing love that always assures us that we have never been unloved.
Blessings. Tim
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