Day 7 -- Love: The Central Mystery of Our Faith

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

The earliest church was known by its capacity for love. It's repatation, far from bad, was it was full of those "who love one another." Sit and meditate on that awhile. Think about the buzz around that. They weren't defined by a book, a doctrine, a building, a pope, a pastor, a deacon, or a worship style. They weren't defined by who was included or excluded. They were known for their love.

Rick Warren did a home run job with this week's talk as he pulled apart 1 Corinthians 13, St. Paul's chapter on the radical power and centrality of love in our lives as Christians and as Christian community. I like how Rick puts it:

He says, "If I don't live a life of love...

Nothing I say will matter.
Nothing I know will matter.
Nothing I believe will matter.
Nothing I give will matter.
Nothing I accomplish will matter."

Do you know? I only have 32 years of life under my belt. But I KNOW this; he's right. For all of the wordy people I know, for all the knowledgeable people I know, for all of the deeply believing people I know, for all of the tremendously giving people I know, and for all of the successful people I know, the ones that have impacted me the most are those who radiate a passionate go to the wall love for people. These people, more than any others, have marked me in a holy way. These people more than any others, call out the absolute best in me. These people more than any others raise the bar for me in my capacity to love, to hope, to forgive, and to seek forgiveness.
When I am around people like this, my capacity for God community increases astronomically.

And perhaps it does so for you as well.

Because love, it changes things. It changes people. It transforms life. It transforms community. It constructs a beauty that reflects the heart and face of God -- a heart and face that you and I reflect when we love each other.

From the Swenson-Reinhold den to your home or workplace...wishing Christ's deep and passionate love for you all...that you would know it deep inside your marrow...and that it would become a contagious and transforming force in your lives.

God loves you, and I do too.

Pastor Nathan