Yearly Archive: 2008

We are still on the mailing list of Hillside Church in Corte Madera, where we worshipped and ministered for a couple of years. Prince Altom is the Lead Pastor there, and his Christmas newsletter was titled "Rejoice". He wrote about the accomplishments of Hillside in the midst of all that is happening around us and them.

My thanks to Prince for what caught my eye and spirit at the end of the piece.

"If our greatest need in life was financial security God would have sent us an economist. If our greatest need was erudite learning God would have sent us an educator. If our greatest need was political wisdom God would have sent us a politician. Our greatest need was the salvation of our souls and the model of a life for others and so God sent us Jesus Christ who, according to the ancient creed, lives and reigns in the church for the glory of God and for the good of the world."

Apparently love has a lot to do with everything – shopping, driving, living or being. Love is both something that "feels good" and something that we experience. It can be both a noun and a verb – a "thing" and an action. Actually, the word is rooted in more than one word, but in english we end up with the usual confusion. Maybe that's why we have so many problems understanding one another.

Suffice it to say that without a course in other languages, some of us have a requirement to "love one another." Those words were spoken by Jesus 2000 years ago, and their demands have never diminished. Jesus was talking about giving ourselves up for one another – doing for when we don't feel like it or don't like being "there" or have to give up our time or money.

He even tied it to "being a servant" when he got down on the floor and washed his disciple's feet. Remember, He was the "Master". He was the boss. Yet, instead of commanding His followers to come wash the dust off His feet He did for them. You can check it out yourself in John 13 (read the whole chapter).

What brought me to this point was the second half of First John, chapter 3 where he says "we should love one another;" and then he follows in verse 18 with "love…in deed and truth." Love here and in John 13 was action, not some weakness of heart or soft music but actually doing something for someone else. BTW, take a close look at verse 17.

Another time I'll tackle "love your neighbor" vs "love one another." There is a difference.