The Obedience of Faith

I began studying the letter Paul wrote the Colossian Church yesterday. Though my first reading and subsequent study, dealt only with the first eight verses, which would be considered merely the greeting of the letter, I have already learned something new and vital to my understanding of the life of a Christian in respect to faith.

My newfound knowledge came in the area of the word faith.  In verse three, Paul is telling the Colossians how he thanks God for them, whenever he prays for them. He then explains why he thanks God for them, saying in verse four, it is “because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints.”

In my study I learned that the Greek word used for faith is pistis, which is derived from the Greek word peithō. A deeper study of the Greek word peithō tells us that one of the meanings it carries is to obey. So, when we define faith, we find that it involves a belief that the object of our faith is something that we can have so much confidence in, that we are compelled to obey its source. And what is the primary source of our faith? It is Jesus who we place our faith in. Thus, our faith, as defined in the scriptures, demands our obedience to the object of our faith. In simple terms, we are to have such a strong confidence in Jesus, that we are led to believe that what He says to us, is true and we can rest confidently in obedience to Him. We are to obey what Jesus has said to us.

The very reason that Paul opens his letter by telling the church at Colossae that he thanks God for them, is because they are obedient to Christ’s call on their lives and that is demonstrated to all by their love for each other. Remember that in the New Testament, every single Christian is called a saint. When Paul says they love the saints, he is speaking of the love they have for their brothers and sisters in Christ. Every single person who has entered into the family of God by their faith in Jesus, is called to love their fellow saints in the faith. 1 John 3:14 gives us the litmus test for true faith in Christ saying that “We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death.”

If we do not love our brothers and sisters in Christ, then our profession of faith is a farce and a lie. Unless that love exists, we are not Christians. This confirms the idea of faith demanding obedience to Jesus.

As I pondered this thought over the course of my day, the Holy Spirit began to work on me. By evening I had moved on to other thoughts and had as usual, went back to the everyday things of life. But at 3:00 a.m. this morning, I woke up with a bit of a headache. As someone who stumbles through with the struggles of what the shrinks call bi-polar manic depression, I often cannot sleep. What happens is my brain won’t turn off. It’s sort of a sensory overload, I guess, and it can be quite frustrating, as it just becomes impossible to rest.

So, here I am awake in the early hours of the morning. But rather than fight the battle to go back to sleep, this morning I could hear that quiet voice of God speaking. First of all, I took a few minutes in prayer just to praise and thank God for the blessings of my life. Then I simply let God speak and what I am hearing this morning is Jesus preaching the sermon we all know and call the Sermon on the Mount. As the Holy Spirit brought that sermon back to my mind, I began to ask myself questions. Questions that center on my faith. This morning I am sharing those questions with those of you reading this. The questions are to be answered in the context of faith, meaning that I am to obey my Lord, Jesus, for that is what saying I have placed my faith in Him means. It means I trust Him so much that I am willing to do the things He calls me to do. My prayer for each of you is that you will take some time to open your Bible and answer some of these questions in your own heart.

For me, this morning, my questions come straight from what we call the Beatitudes.

Am I poor in spirit? Do I mourn? Am I gentle? Do I hunger and thirst for righteousness? Am I merciful? Am I pure in heart? Am I a peacemaker? Have I been persecuted for the sake of righteousness? Have people insulted and persecuted me, saying false, evil things against me because of Jesus?

Those are powerful questions that honestly, bring strong conviction to my heart. I don’t think I can say yes to most of those questions, so in them I have a lot of soul searching to do.

The reward for living the life that Jesus describes there, which goes completely counter to the culture we live in, is that we will be blessed. Blessed here brings the connotation of happiness. Look at the rewards of such a life.

Matthew 5:3-12
 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.  "Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth.  "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.  "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.  "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.  "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.  "Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  "Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me.  "Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great.”

Even in the early morning, when my eyes are fuzzy and my brain tired, I can see clearly the power and blessings of an obedient life of faith.

How about you?

I hope and pray your faith and my faith will reveal itself to each other and, to the unsaved world, so that Christ will be glorified, and His love will be on display for all to see.

I’m tired now. But having spent time this morning in God’s Word, causes me to simply rest in Jesus. I hope you also will do the same.

  

Being a Bird Feeder For God

One of my favorite things to do is feed the birds and then sit in my kitchen and watch them as they fly in and out taking advantage of the various seeds at our feeders. Lately whenever I go out to refill the feeders, I am reminded of the words of Jesus spoken to us in Matthew 6:25-26:

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?”

Jesus gave us these words so that we would understand that as His children, God provides everything we need. Not only does God take of His children and the animals of the world, He even takes care of those who reject and scorn Him. In Matthew 5:45 Jesus tells us that God "gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike."

But the beauty of how God operates, is through His people. “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

It is important to understand that even as Jesus was telling us we need not be anxious for anything in this life, He was also commanding us to go into the world and be the means by which He would provide for both the just and the unjust. Listen to Jesus on this.

Matthew 5:43-48
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’  But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.  For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?  And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?  You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

The truth is that the evidence of our salvation is found in how we love others. Jesus spoke about this in Matthew 25:34-40

Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.  For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’  Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink?  And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you?  And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’  And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’

God’s people are God’s hands and feet. We are the means He uses to provide for those in need. Sometimes this means we give a sandwich to a homeless man in the streets. Sometimes it means we simply take time to say a kind and encouraging word to a stranger who we observe sitting alone in a hospital waiting room. Sometimes it means we pray for the needs we read about on our Facebook page. Sometimes it means we buy some birdseed at Rural King and put up a bird feeder in our backyard.

Open your Bible on a regular basis to Luke 10:27 and read how Jesus answers the lawyer’s question. “Sir, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” No, Jesus isn’t suggesting salvation is by works, Jesus is explaining how the one who receives Him by faith will be forever changed in how he views others.

May mercy, grace, and above all else, love, become the characteristics that define us.

The Best New Year's Resolution

Nothing seems to amaze me more each year, then that moment it hits me; Christmas is over, and it is about to be a new year. This is a time of reflection. A time to look back and to remember. For me, it’s been a good year. God has continued to bless me with many wonderful things. I finally lost the weight I’ve been battling to lose for at least two years. I got a few things fixed around the house. I went fishing and I went camping. I had some great family time. But as I look back, as a Christian, I must ask myself this; Did I grow to be more like Jesus this year? Or am I pretty much the same guy I was?

The new year is the time that we reflect back, so that we can maybe plan for the next year. We may make resolutions. We may make some plans. We may set some goals. As a Christian, I can come up with a great many ideas as to which direction I should go and in what ways I need to grow. If we’re all honest, we know that we all need to grow.

So, where do we start? I was just reading the second to last lesson in a book that is a forty-day study on how to be a better man. The topic is love. As I read the little study it hit me. Love is one thing we can all get better at. It ought to be the priority in every Christian’s life. Let’s look at what God has to say about love.

1 Corinthians 13:1-3
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.  And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.  If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

If I do not have love, I am nothing. Without it I gain nothing.

1 Corinthians 16:14
Let all that you do be done in love.

Everything we do, must be done in love. Everything. All that we do, if we are Christians, must be done in love. Everything. No ifs, no ands, no buts. Everything should be done in love.

What does that mean? What is love? I cannot do something if I do not know what it is and how I am to do it. Take a look.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.  Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Verse 8 goes on to say that love never ends. Ever.

John 13:34-35
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.  By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Christians are to love one another. That’s how the lost world will know we are Christ’s. that is our greatest witness.

Luke 10:27
And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”

Christians are to love God.

Christians are to love their neighbors. And love them as much as you love yourself.

Matthew 5:44
But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.

Christians are to love their enemies.

That doesn’t leave anyone left who we are not to love. Christians are to love everyone.

I don’t know about you, but I am not too good at this. So, if God says that without this love, I am nothing, then it sounds like I have found the place to start as I face a new year. Why not make love a priority in 2019? Why not make it first on this list of resolutions?

We all need to work on this. The Bible commands us to help each other in this lofty endeavor.

Hebrews 10:24-25
And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

Love will change the world. It changes everything. It will change us.

I close with some of God’s truth on love.

Proverbs 10:12
Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all offenses.

1 Peter 4:8
Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.

Let all that you do be done in love.

The Simple Message of Mercy

Mercy. It is a powerful word to the Christian, for it is because of God’s mercy that a poor, wretched sinner, like me, can have a relationship with Almighty God.

Ephesians 2:4-5
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved.

We have been saved by grace because God has mercy upon us. What response does this great news require of us in return? Jesus spoke about what He wants from us in Matthew 9:13 instructing us to “Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Because God extended mercy to us, we are to extend mercy to others. The question then is this, do we know what mercy is?

The simple answer is to look up the word mercy in the dictionary. The first definition I find when I searched online is a good one. It says that mercy is “compassion or forgiveness shown toward someone whom it is within one's power to punish or harm.” In other words, it is giving them something they do not deserve, while holding back the punishment they do. This is what God has done for us by sending Jesus to die on the cross so that we can, not only be forgiven, but are also given His righteousness. This is called imputation in theological terms. It means that though we are still sinners in our thoughts and behaviors, we are cloaked in the robe of Jesus’ righteousness. When God looks upon those He has saved, He sees them just as He sees Jesus, without sin, pure and holy. This means that when a Christian dies, He will enter the presence of God. It means a Christian can come into His presence anytime through prayer. This is why we add “In Jesus’ name” to our prayers.

In terms of practical Christian living we are to also show mercy to those who are not deserving of our love. This includes every and all types of offenders. Drug addicts, prostitutes, adulterers, and even child molesters are to be shown mercy by the Christian.

Does this mean we simply overlook their offenses? No. The Bible is clear that government is put into place to yield the sword against those who perpetuate violence and crime against us. So, yes, we let justice be served within the parameters of our society. It means we protect the innocent. It means we defend life.

But it never authorizes personal hatred towards even the vilest of society. Jesus said we love our enemies. We are called to pray for them. They are a part of the world in which we are sent to preach the Gospel to. We cannot show them the love of Christ if our minds are set on anger and bitterness. This will require a heart of mercy and the only way to have that heart is through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Let us learn what mercy is and let us show the same mercy to all people as God has shown to us. Before our new birth we were enemies of God. Without His grace given, expressed through mercy, we would all be cast into the eternal darkness of hell.

I leave you with the words of the Apostle Paul from His great letter to the Romans. May we all learn what mercy is and make it real in our lives.

Romans 11:30-32
For just as you were at one time disobedient to God but now have received mercy because of their disobedience, so they too have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you they also may now receive mercy.  For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.

Go now and learn what this means.

 

Do You Love God or Do You Hate Him?

There is a lot of hatred for God today. Some of it is disguised by tolerance and acceptance of what He calls sin. Many people think that it is just unloving to speak of sin and call the, now culturally acceptable behaviors, violations of God's commands. People think that Jesus came and loved us and died for us, so we could go to heaven and live forever in some blissful self-existence. Many think it doesn’t matter if we curse, or we live in sexual sin of any kind, or even if we simply violate civil laws that we don’t like.

That type of attitude is a deception of the devil and will result in an eternal destination that the Bible is very candid about. God has spoken clearly in His Word about how we are to behave.

Deuteronomy 7:9-11
Know therefore that the LORD your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations,  and repays to their face those who hate him, by destroying them. He will not be slack with one who hates him. He will repay him to his face.  You shall therefore be careful to do the commandment and the statutes and the rules that I command you today.

Old Testament, you cry out. Once again, Satan has duped you, if that’s what you think. Here is what Jesus had to say about the Law.

Matthew 5:17-20
 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.  For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.  Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.  For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

We must understand the truth of the scriptures and take hold of the facts. No one is saved by the law, that is scriptural truth. But that does not have anything to do with the truth that loving God means we love His law and we seek to be Holy, just as He is.

Listen to this story from Mark 12:28-34
And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?”  Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.  And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’  The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”  And the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher. You have truly said that he is one, and there is no other besides him.  And to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.”  And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And after that no one dared to ask him any more questions.

I don’t care what man-made methods of interpretation you have been taught, the main principle of Bible interpretation is that scripture interprets scripture. This means to understand God’s Word you must read it in the context of the entire Bible, not three verses above and three below.

If you want to love God listen to how Jesus said this must be done.

John 14:15
"If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.”

We need to wake up. Our hearts need to be turned towards God and that means what He says, goes. Jesus said we must deny ourselves. Yet, we are a nation of self-indulgence. Read your Bible from cover to cover. It’s the only way to escape the deception Satan is reaping upon God’s people. Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to live in us and that empowers us to not only understand God’s Word, but also to employ it in our lives.

Loving God’s means loving His commandments. The opposite of love is hate. Here is what love for God is.

1 John 5:2
By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and observe His commandments.

Studies In Matthew - Confronting Hypocrisy

My morning time with God this morning found me in Matthew, chapter 23. This is the section in which we find Jesus confronting the Scribes and the Pharisees with their hypocrisy. That the very leaders of the Jewish people would be such hypocrites, was very important to Jesus, so much so that He spoke out against them and pronounced seven woes against them.

It is tempting to see this section in only its immediate context and to shake our heads at these horrible men. But do we really think that the Holy Spirit inspired Matthew to record this narrative simply, so we could applaud Jesus for putting these bad men in their places?

1 Corinthians 10:6 reminds us why we have these stories. It says that “these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did.”

The Word of God is not just a story about the history of the Jews; it is God’s Word written so that those who are Born Again will know what God expects us to be like as we grow in our faith. There is a spiritual lesson for us here as well. Actually, there are many. This morning I want to share a story from the Holman New Testament Commentary, written by Stu Weber.

I pray this speaks to your heart as it did mine. As Christians, we are to be watching over each other. We are to be encouraging each other as we seek to run the race Paul reminds us to be running. That race is the race to holiness. Sometimes we need to encourage each other by speaking the truth in love. Love without truth and truth without love is not pleasing to God. Sometimes it means that we must simply say what needs to be said.

Please read this story. Please read Matthew 23 and search your own heart. The world needs to see Christ. But Jesus is no longer walking this earth in His physical body. He left us His Holy Spirit so that in us, the world could see Jesus. The religious leaders though they were leading the people down the path to God. They were not. They were hypocrites. Our witness to the world is not received by the words we speak; it is received by the life we live. This is why James said that faith without works is dead. This why he told us to be DOERS of the Word not just hearers. This why sometimes we Christians need to gently, in love, confront each other with the truth of God’s Word.

Now, as Paul Harvey would say, The rest of the story…

Hypocrisy Confronted

It happened during my high school days at a state leadership camp. It was unforgettable. For the first time in my memory, I had stood up—in public—to confront hypocrisy.

Several hundred high school student-body officers were being trained for their senior tenure. About a dozen of us were housed in one cabin just about right for a couple of guys to doze off, a couple to read, and the rest of us to engage in developing a healthy "group dynamic." In other words, we told stories and hooted at their craziness into the wee hours.

One stretch involved an hour or more of "can-you-top-this" jokes and stories. I found myself unable to participate so I lay quiet in the darkness, hoping the others would think I had fallen asleep. One voice in particular, from the top bunk on the west wall, seemed to dominate the off-color conversation.

When the conversation shifted to things that mattered, the guys began to discuss "religion," real spiritual issues, and eventually their own hearts. It was amazing. Christ and the Christian faith became the center of discussion.

But the majesty of that healthy dialogue was broken when the same voice from the top bunk on the west wall chimed in. Unable to remain silent and wanting to be included with the "in" crowd, he declared: "Oh, yeah, I am a Christian too!"

His loud "about face" disturbed me. To go from off-color jokes to spiritual bliss in one easy breath was more than I could handle. Suddenly I heard my own voice breaking the silence: "Well, if I claimed to be a Christian and had just finished spouting off a bunch of off-color stories, I sure would not be advertising my faith."

My heart was pounding! I had done it! What was going to happen now? As it turned out, not much. The cabin went dead silent. I was sure the other guys could hear my heart pounding. But I do not recall anyone saying another word that night. Nor the next day. My impetuous, angry comment had just ended it all. Camp broke up. We returned to our homes. And that was the end of that; or so I thought. Years went by—through college, then the military and Vietnam, followed by seminary. I never thought another thing about the incident.

Fifteen years later I was walking on the sidewalk of a seminary campus when a voice from across the lawn called a loud hello. The guy asked if I had been at a particular high school leadership camp and involved in a certain conversation. I realized that was the person from that top bunk on the west wall. He proceeded to rehearse the exchange that night and described the discomfort of the silence that followed. "Yes, that was me," I admitted.

Then, in a wonderful moment of confession and a genuine statement of gratitude, he thanked me for my comments in that cabin on that night long ago. He told me that the shock of having his hypocrisy pointed out had begun his turnaround. Those uncomfortable moments in that cabin fifteen years ago had played a significant role in his commitment to Christ. He was now on a seminary campus, studying for vocational Christian ministry. It was a wonderful conclusion to a long-forgotten story.

There comes a time when we need to confront hypocrisy. In the flow of Matthew's Gospel, that time had arrived. Jesus was going to confront the hypocrisy of Israel's religious leaders. In a loud voice, blunt and truthful, the Lord of heaven confronted the hypocritical religious leaders.

Confronting hypocrisy may turn the hypocrite around. But even when it does not, it serves to protect others who might become victims of the hypocrisy.

Story taken from the Holman New Testament Commentary - Matthew. Written by Stuart K. Weber

 

 

What is Love?

What is love? For the Christian, this is a question that must be answered. If a Christian wants to live the abundant life that Jesus wants us to have, then it is important that we have assurance of salvation. We are instructed in scripture to seek assurance. 2 Corinthians 13:5 says that we are to, “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you fail the test?”

How do we test this? Our feelings are not an accurate test. I can feel that something is true, even though it is not. Think back on the many times you let your feelings lead you to worry or anxiety over something, only to find out that it never occurred. Not that sometimes our feelings cannot be useful, certainly intuition can be helpful in making some judgments, but in our humanity, we are imperfect beings. We often misjudge things and many times we let our feelings lead us astray. But God has not left us to wander aimlessly; He has provided us with His Word. Listen to John from the Bible in 1 John 4:7-8, “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.”

There it is. One test of our salvation is this. “Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.” You don’t even know God if love isn’t a part of who you are. Clearly then, if love is a result of our salvation, then what is love? Again, God has provided the answer.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7
Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

That is a very clear description of what love is, how love behaves.

Patient.

Kind.

Rejoices in truth.

Bears all things.

Hopes in all things.

Endures all things.

We also see what love is not and what it doesn’t do.

Jealous.

A Bragger.

Arrogant.

Unbecoming.

Provoked.

Doesn’t even take into account a wrong suffered.

Doesn’t rejoice in unrighteousness.

How are you doing with all that? Me? Not all that well. And based on your Facebook pages, I’m not seeing many people doing all that much better.

Thankfully the Bible says this about God.

Psalm 86:15
But You, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, Slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness and truth.

Lamentations 3:22-23
The LORD'S lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail.  They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.

But we must not mistake God’s longsuffering nature to allow us to live without regard for His commands.

Romans 2:4
 Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?

I fall short of the love I am called to be living out. Most if not all of us do. But Let us encourage each other to start this very day, to be a people who love. A people whose love mirrors that of the love of God. Imagine a world where all of us who claim the name of Christ, loved each other in the way that Paul speaks of in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7.

This morning you were given a new day. How will you use it? How will you love? The choice is yours.