As we continue to work our way through Ephesians on Sunday mornings, we are looking for ways to live (chapters 4-6) like the people we have become (chapters 1-3).
We are using this lens to spotlight our core values (Connect, Learn & Engage) and something keeps coming up over and over again. Certainly, it's in Ephesians, but sometimes you start to see themes emerge in your personal study or in conversations and you start to pay special attention to what the Holy Spirit might be saying. Have you ever had that happen to you?
What I keep hearing is love. Simple, but powerful. If we try to keep the unity we've been given by Jesus, if we try to connect with others, if we try to engage with our neighbours and tell them about Jesus, but we aren't doing it in love, we're missing it. As I read in a commentary recently, "You can have all the right ‘truthing’ but if you don’t have love, it’s for nothing." That's the idea of 1 Corinthians 13:1-3, isn't it?
This really came together for me in a recent Bible In A Year reading from 1 Thessalonians 4:9. The Apostle Paul says to the church, "Now about your love for one another we do not need to write you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other."
They were taught by God to love each other? I mean, wow. That's the kind of love that we need in order to live lives that are worthy of the call we've received. (Ephesians 4:1) We need God to teach us what love looks like and how to love others well, in a way that reflects His heart for His image-bearers.
I want to connect with my church family, I want to learn to think and act like Jesus and I want to engage the world with the transforming message of the gospel. I am called to be a disciple of Jesus and let these things mark my life but always by learning what real love is from God so that I can minister with the grace given to me.
I've been challenged to pray that I would be like the church in Thessalonica and would be a student of God's love with Him as my teacher. I'll offer the same challenge to you: Would you pray with me that we would be taught by God to love each other?
In Christ,
Pastor Tracy
THIS SUNDAY
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 22 @ 10am
(IN)SECURE
I Am Engaged in Mission With Jesus
Tracy Dunham
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10:00 - Live Service & Kids Church (+Church Online)