Loving One Another

Sorry that I have not blogged for a month. I am still getting a handle on this thing and I hope to get better at it moving forward. So this past Sunday, I spoke on loving one another and someone had sent me an article that had a great quote in it that did not make it into the sermon, so I thought I would post it here instead. I know it is difficult for us to truly love one another. I know that I need to do better and I suspect that you do as well. Loving one another is hard. We are busy, we have our own needs, we feel incapable of really being who God has called us to be in relationship with one another. But we also need to realize that our love for one another displays God to this world.

L.T. Jeyachandran, the executive director of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Singapore, wrote this, "So when we consider who we are as Christians we must first consider who God is. Thus, we must begin to think about relationality, which is at the heart of reality: three persons, who in some amazing, mysterious way constitute one God. Here in John and Luke Jesus tells us that the relationship with the Godhead will be the standard by which our love for one another would be measured. Not at the mega level, but at the micro level. Not when ten thousand people come and worship together, but when five people meet in our home for a Bible study--a neighborhood Bible study--and our neighbors begin to see that we truly love one another. Because when I wash your feet and you wash my feet, the watching world sees two imperfect people, yes, but who belong to Jesus Christ and reflect his love in relationship. By this all will know that we are his disciples." http://www.rzim.org/slice/slicetran.php?sliceid=1615

We have just started a new thing at Columbus Alliance Church. That new thing is called ConneXions. It is a time for us to meet together in biblical community as part of our Sunday morning worship service. It is in those ConneXions that we can really form some significant relationships with one another. It is in those ConneXions that we can allow our lives to intertwine. It is in those ConneXions that we find ourselves in position to really love one another. I want to encourage all of us to make those times of ConneXions a priority. Let's invest in that time together.

I have heard some wonderful reports about how the groups are going and I want to encourage you to let me know your thoughts. And this is only the beginning. How can ConneXions grow? Where do we go from here? My group is already talking about getting together outside of Sunday mornings so that we can connect more. There is also a couple of people who are talking about bringing their lunch on Sunday mornings so that they can eat together with whoever would like to stick around after the service and have that extended time to connect with one another. I will give you more information about that in the days ahead. New things are happening and it is exciting. Let's commit ourselves to connecting with one another and let's continue to trust God to help us reflect Him to this world in which we live!