ordinary love
Last weekend, i went to a retreat with my college friends. It was a retreat that was purposely made to encourage the students to get to know each other and each other's family(if there is any) better. It was encouraging to see that the college is actually taking this huge effort to organise this event every year to promote the college community. Which is what the Church is truly about rite... to help each other, encourage and rebuke each other. How can we do that if we don't know about each other?
anyway... what i wanted to share is the wonderful sermon that I've got during the retreat.
It was taken from Gal 5:13-6:3. One passage two talks
One of the most striking and challenging point that he brought up was the issue of walking in the spirit. Though it's rarely discussed in most churches these days but it's actually one of the most important topic that should be discussed even more in churches these days. Think of the many churches that had failed just because they rather follow their own understanding rather than choosing to do the things that are pleasing to God.
Walking in the Spirit is not something that is done just by instinct alone, its something that we have to train ourselves to do it habitually. What does walking in the spirit looks like?
The Bible sums up the entire law in one sentence "Love your neighbor as yourselves". This is the form of Christ's love at its greatest. When we TRULY love others as we love ourselves. In joy, pain and sorrow, we too must share that feelings with the people around us. And this takes the greatest struggle for that we must lay down our life that we may truly feel what others felt.
However, something about these sayings are often overlooked.
True, Jesus did preach a whole lot in the Sermon on the Mount about loving the needy, widows and poor. But something is missing from the way the world portrays these kind of love, which is the fact that we too must love those who are better than us! Those who receive better marks than us in the exam, or those who have more houses or possessions than us, those who seems to be happier and better off than us.
Have we ever thought of loving them? Personallly, I had never. I had always thought: "why should i care and love those who are better than me? shouldn't they be the ones who do that to me? after all, i have greater needs than them, they are more "blessed""
Evil eh! That is one sin that i had been keeping with me all these times. But every too often we forgot that having a lot of possessions or good qualities don't really guarantee anything.
A quote from Luther:
This saying from Martin Luther is right! We as a prideful human beings are proud achievers, we want to be better than ourselves, we don't like it when others are better than us. That is why acting in a heroic way is way too easy for us because of the "reward" that follows. But is that what God call us to do? To be heroic like Jesus, die on the cross, be a martyr of "faith"?
No, i don't think so... Even from experience, for me, it's so much harder to serve "backstage". To serve without being seen by others, to serve in an ordinary and not-so-holy way. To serve without ever receiving any "praise" or "encouragement" from others. YES, it's so much harder! It's so much harder to serve just for the sake of loving others alone.
That is why Luther said that it takes a SPIRIT FILLED LOVE, because without the Spirit-we could never be able to conquer out sinful nature. Without the Holy Spirit, the saying "treat others as you would like to be done to you" will never make sense. Our sinful nature will prevent us from understanding what it truly means.
So again i would like to emphasize that there is no harder command than this command- to love others as we would like it to be done to us in EVERY SINGLE ASPECT of our life. To feel the same longing for others as we would have for ourselves.
But rejoice! because God will NOT let us struggle by ourselves, we were given the Great Comforter, The Great Helper, The Great Counsel and the Spirit of Knowledge Wisdom and Understanding, to help us walk in our path, the path to Christ-likeness. We were given the Spirit that enables us to speak to God directly anytime, everywhere in anything and everything.
So when we are facing any struggles, even though it may seems insignificant, just surrender it to God and He will surely listen to you. And remember
anyway... what i wanted to share is the wonderful sermon that I've got during the retreat.
It was taken from Gal 5:13-6:3. One passage two talks
One of the most striking and challenging point that he brought up was the issue of walking in the spirit. Though it's rarely discussed in most churches these days but it's actually one of the most important topic that should be discussed even more in churches these days. Think of the many churches that had failed just because they rather follow their own understanding rather than choosing to do the things that are pleasing to God.
Walking in the Spirit is not something that is done just by instinct alone, its something that we have to train ourselves to do it habitually. What does walking in the spirit looks like?
The Bible sums up the entire law in one sentence "Love your neighbor as yourselves". This is the form of Christ's love at its greatest. When we TRULY love others as we love ourselves. In joy, pain and sorrow, we too must share that feelings with the people around us. And this takes the greatest struggle for that we must lay down our life that we may truly feel what others felt.
However, something about these sayings are often overlooked.
True, Jesus did preach a whole lot in the Sermon on the Mount about loving the needy, widows and poor. But something is missing from the way the world portrays these kind of love, which is the fact that we too must love those who are better than us! Those who receive better marks than us in the exam, or those who have more houses or possessions than us, those who seems to be happier and better off than us.
Have we ever thought of loving them? Personallly, I had never. I had always thought: "why should i care and love those who are better than me? shouldn't they be the ones who do that to me? after all, i have greater needs than them, they are more "blessed""
Evil eh! That is one sin that i had been keeping with me all these times. But every too often we forgot that having a lot of possessions or good qualities don't really guarantee anything.
A quote from Luther:
It is not hard to be heroic- BUT it takes a Spirit filled love to be ordinary and serve in a ordinary wayAlmost too often we think that everyone should have their share of "glory". And when we see those "high-achievers" and people who looks like they have the time of their life, we think i don't need to serve and love them, they have so much already, when will i have my share?
This saying from Martin Luther is right! We as a prideful human beings are proud achievers, we want to be better than ourselves, we don't like it when others are better than us. That is why acting in a heroic way is way too easy for us because of the "reward" that follows. But is that what God call us to do? To be heroic like Jesus, die on the cross, be a martyr of "faith"?
No, i don't think so... Even from experience, for me, it's so much harder to serve "backstage". To serve without being seen by others, to serve in an ordinary and not-so-holy way. To serve without ever receiving any "praise" or "encouragement" from others. YES, it's so much harder! It's so much harder to serve just for the sake of loving others alone.
That is why Luther said that it takes a SPIRIT FILLED LOVE, because without the Spirit-we could never be able to conquer out sinful nature. Without the Holy Spirit, the saying "treat others as you would like to be done to you" will never make sense. Our sinful nature will prevent us from understanding what it truly means.
So again i would like to emphasize that there is no harder command than this command- to love others as we would like it to be done to us in EVERY SINGLE ASPECT of our life. To feel the same longing for others as we would have for ourselves.
But rejoice! because God will NOT let us struggle by ourselves, we were given the Great Comforter, The Great Helper, The Great Counsel and the Spirit of Knowledge Wisdom and Understanding, to help us walk in our path, the path to Christ-likeness. We were given the Spirit that enables us to speak to God directly anytime, everywhere in anything and everything.
So when we are facing any struggles, even though it may seems insignificant, just surrender it to God and He will surely listen to you. And remember
Only those who are spiritually alive care about being spiritually weak. Struggle is a sign of life. All Christians should care about struggles because everyone have struggles
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