Tuesday, September 30, 2008

LOVING OTHERS IN CHRIST


Love: the anchor of the church
The sea is a wonderful feature of creation. It can be quiet and beautiful, while dangerous and unsettled at times. God’s house (church) is like a sea. It can be a haven of peace to the burdened soul and hotbed of hostility when invaded by the enemy.
When the sea is unsettled and dangerous, the ship is prevented from shipwreck by the anchor. However, the chain holding the ship’s anchor has to endure enormous tension to protect the vessel from wandering. This is determined by the strength of the chain otherwise it would break.
The same could be the case with the church. For the church to remain firm and healthy, members have to be bound together in unity. Love; which is the strongest force of unity is the source of this bound. In acknowledging the primacy of love, Christ told his disciples: “Now I give you a new commandment; love one another just as I have loved you. By loving one another, everyone will know that you are my disciples.” –John 13:34, 35.
Christ was saying when love supersedes egoism, unity will prevail. But since each church member has likes and dislikes, hopes and fears, and personal burden to carry, unity in the church poses a challenge. This challenge calls for genuine appreciation of each church member. Appreciation can deepen our love for one another.
To appreciate, as The Oxford Advanced Learners’ Dictionary puts it, means being sensible or sensitive to, recognize as valuable; esteem adequately; being grateful for. And when we appreciate our church members, we will be sensitive to their needs, we will hold them in high esteem, we will recognize their excellence and we will be grateful that they worship with us. Inevitably, we will grow to love them very much. When they fall, we will lift them up. Paul in 2 Corinthians 6: 13 counsel us to enlarge our love- to open our hearts wide!
Enlarging our love for one another is heartwarming to our fellow brothers and sisters. It anchors us together. But as people born in sin, probably even never shown selfless love, widening out love is a challenge. It demands that we live different from the world. It demands that we ask the master of love to discipline us and prepare us to love others. This kind of love anchors the church together so that no one strays.
Living differently from the world means appreciating one another; a practice not found in the world. The world is characterized by people with little appreciation for the other and is flippant. We should not be influenced by these attitudes. Our love should not be malnourished by feelings of mistrust and egoism. Our salvation is based on love, we were loved before, and we must love one another in turn. “You are so rich in all you have: in faith, speech and knowledge…and so we want you to be generous also in this service of love.” ─2 Corinthians 8: 7.
A servant of God who grows in love has genuine appreciation for fellow brothers and sisters. S/he holds them in high esteem, respects their dignity and is sensitive to their needs. Such a brother or sister is willing to forgive when offended and would not bear any grudge. Kindness of the heart helps such a one to show the kind of love Jesus had in mind when he told his disciples, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love among yourselves.” ─ John 13:35.
Sincere love will enable us to reach out beyond our cycle of friends and seek the companionship of those we do not usually have close contact with in the church. We have brothers and sisters whom we think we have nothing in common apart from shared faith. But Jesus befriended even those society despised. He accommodated fishermen, the noble and prostitutes in his mission.
A generous heart even today can move us to be attentive to the needs of others. We have different members with different needs. We have young ones who need guidance, the elderly who need encouragement, pastors and evangelists who need our support in many ways. We also have other brothers and sisters who are downtrodden and need a listening ear. Everyone has needs that we have to respond to dearly as ‘brothers’ keeper.’
Growing in love will help us to be understanding and supportive of those in need. This cements unity in the church. In these last days, strong bonds of unity within the church are of greater value than possessions, abilities or achievements. God in 1 Peter 4: 7,8 tells us that “The end of all things is near…be self-controlled and alert to be able to pray. Above everything, love one another earnestly, because love covers over many sins.”
Each one of us can contribute towards strengthening bonds of unity in our own church by growing in love for our fellow brothers and sisters. As disciples of Christ today, we must uplift the words of Christ “…love one another just as I have loved you.”─ John 15: 12.












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