love, divine

God’s really been stretching me lately and opening my mind to some pretty incredible things. In consideration of his church here, and the ones he has called to be here and serve here, my thoughts and prayers of late have been concerning those who are here with me, and some who may not be anymore, or others who are leaving soon….

My attention fell on 1 Peter 4, recently….

^“7therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. ⁸Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. ⁹Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. ¹⁰As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: ¹¹whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.”

Verse 8 paints this beautiful picture of true love which I’ll come back to in a minute. But in the context of God’s body as a church, look at what it says starting in verse 10.

Each of us has gifts, each of us has something that we’re good at. Praise God for that, because having this knowledge, we can better operate as a body, as a partnership in the calling God has placed on our lives both individually and cooperatively. As a church, it seems easier for us to complain about the way certain things are done, or how money is spent, or who gets to do what “job” at the church, and the funny thing about it all is the fact that God, who knows all and is in all, knows exactly who He has called to do those things, and knows exactly where money is to be spent, and knows exactly how to handle his own church. It’s foolish and ignorant of us to act as if God isn’t in control. Not only that, but it’s irresponsible of us to place that kind of condescension upon the servant God called here. Our strongest convictions should be those that turn our focus to service and support of the ministries God placed in his church, NOT criticism…..

Our arguing, or refusal to accept decisions of the church as Christ’s body, is a rejection of what God has entrusted to His followers. We should always remember 2 Corinthians 5:19, which says God has given to each of us the ministry of His reconciliation of the world! Look back at 1 Peter, verse 10, each of us has received a gift, and Peter pleads with you to use it to serve one another, because God’s grace comes in many (varied) different ways, and I have FULL confidence that there are people in YOUR church that can only be reached by Christ’s love through YOU.

Too often I personally spend time contemplating on what I wish to accomplish on my own accord, even though I’m well aware of John 15:5, that apart from Christ, I can’t accomplish anything. But recently God has reminded me that my frustration, and my own attempts at something are ultimately my rejection of not only His grace, but also it’s straight up ignorance because it implies that I don’t believe God’s got it under control. I have to keep telling myself that God is in all things and that all things were created for Him. These are too easily forgotten. So what ends up happening in my own life is this weird sort of… memory lapse where I somehow tell myself that God doesn’t know what’s best for me. But he does. It’s my submission to His will that He desires. Not my efforts at accomplishing my own goals.

I digress, I wanted to say a few things about 1 Peter before I “log off” here, and that is the reminder to carry ourselves in love. It says to love one another EARNESTLY, or DEEPLY. Truthfully, this isn’t always the motivation behind our actions. We get so blinded by our own desires for church, or family, or school or work, that we lose sight of Christ’s goals for our lives – much like Peter when he looses sight of Christ on the sea, and all of sudden starts crying about drowning in the water below him – and in such a state of mind it becomes impossible for Christ to be glorified in our lives. Verse 11 says we are to carry ourselves in love, if only so that GOD MIGHT BE GLORIFIED THROUGH JESUS CHRIST IN US.

I love hearing that “love covers a multitude of sins,” because all those grudges and disappointments and hatred about “the way things used to be” is complete rubbish in sight of the love of Christ. It means that everything in my own life that’s wicked and sinful and unrighteous can still be used to bring God His glory through Christ when we bear the love of Christ in our lives…. and everything else becomes less and less important.

Perhaps Jonathan Stockstill was on to something when he wrote the words to Open Up the Sky:

“Earthly things don’t matter
they just fade and shatter
when they’re touched by love divine.”