Do we understand what Paul is saying to the church? Is it really to hard to love someone more than ourselves in this me only narcissistic society. As a Christian we should not have a choice; we do however because we have a free will. The only way to fulfill this verse is to be totally surrendered to Christ and walking in the Spirit (Gal 5:16).
We have forgotten how to love the biblical way. 1 Cor 13:4-7 “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trust, always hopes, always perseveres.
Toby Keith has a song called “I Love this Bar”.
The reason why he loves his bar is because it appears that the people in the bar show a genuine concern for him and his problems. They do it without dissimulation and with sincerity; there is no acting, but genuine concern for this person. What is wrong with this picture? Christ showed genuine love without hypocrisy for the entire world. How? John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but have everlasting life.
Dr. Hunter said, “The man who asserts, ‘I’ll do what I please because I know my rights’, is a very unspiritual man, because when a man is saved, he loses all his rights to Jesus Christ.”
We have forgotten that we have surrendered all to Jesus. We must be willing to set aside our rights for our brother and sister in Christ.
As Christians we are to hate what is evil.
Sometimes it appears the only thing we hate in church is righteousness. Col 3:8-10 says, “Put off all of these things anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth, lie not one to another seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds and have put on the new man”. God did you really say these things? We are to cling to what is good as if it were our only hope. Let us start by just loving one another in the body of Christ. This would be a good thing to cling to. He loved me so much that he died for me. Ph 2:3 “do nothing out of selfish ambitious or vain conceit but in humility consider others better than yourselves.” Wow what a concept or better yet what a scripture. Jn:13:35 “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
Among twitter, facebook , and myspace we have learned how to love ourselves, that is for certain, but we have forgotten the mandate of verse ten; to be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Brotherly love, meaning to love our brother or sister in Christ regardless of personal attraction or social standing; I am to love them because they are in the family of God.
Finally, when we honor one another above ourselves we become Christ-like.
Philippians 2:4-8 “Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus. Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death even death on a cross.”
Are we clinging to love and humility at all in the church? No wonder Toby Keith loves his bar. It appears to be everything that the church is not. As Christians we can follow the mandates of scripture by the power of the Holy Spirit; in fact God expects it. Maybe then Toby Keith will be singing a new song.
Norris Blount is the president and CEO of Excelsior Staffing. He holds degrees from Baylor University and Covington Theological Seminary. He's on the board for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and is a deacon at the First Baptist Church of Peachtree City. Blount holds Bible studies in the public high schools in Fayette County.
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