Bible devotionals

Unbreakable Cord

Posted on by Betsy

Last week I wrote a few devotionals about the famous “love passage” in 1 Corinthians 13 and its prominence at weddings. You remember that one: “Love is patient, Love is kind…love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” … It certainly is a lovely choice for every wedding-type occasions!

But to be honest, I actually prefer a different scripture when I officiate a wedding. It comes from the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes:

Ecclesiastes 4 New International Version (NIV)

9  Two are better than one,

    because they have a good return for their labor:

10  If either of them falls down,

    one can help the other up.

But pity anyone who falls

    and has no one to help them up.

11 Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm.

    But how can one keep warm alone?

12 Though one may be overpowered,

    two can defend themselves.

A cord of three strands is not quickly broken

It is that last verse upon which a strong homily, and relationship, can be built. The way it applies to relationships is this: There are two people in a relationship who are bound together spiritually by adding the “third strand” of Jesus Christ. Couples who come to the altar to make a covenant with each other and with Christ are inviting and including the power and presence of the Holy Spirit to provide strength and beauty to their relationship.

Think of a braid. Two strands alone are weak. Three strands woven together are ironclad.

Does this mean Christian relationships are impervious to disruption? Sadly, no. When one or the other partner unbinds themself from the relationship, or from Christ through sin, the cord indeed can fall apart. In decades of marriage counseling I’ve heard the same story told with different characters. At some point of tiredness, ennui, boredom, or temptation, one pulled away from the braid and the relationship unravels. When “self-importance” overtakes the importance of “us,” that single strand elects to go wayward and the grip is loosened enough for the Enemy to pry in and pry it apart.

I think it is fair to say that the Enemy, whose job it is to “steal, kill and destroy,” finds the breaking apart of relationships, marriages, and families a veritable playground for the havoc he comes to bring. Couples in jeopardy will spend years in the breaking-apart and putting-lives-back-together process. The grief, expense, overwhelming fatigue, anger, and debilitating soul-exhaustion that can accompany divorce can pull people away from their faith as they negotiate the troubled waters of permanent separation.

Keeping Christ at the center of your marriage, family, and relationships gives you the best weapon against this. When you turn your eyes upon Jesus and partner with him as a couple in your home, work, leisure time, finances, and focus, you stand a better chance of surviving the fiery darts that assault all relationships. And joy.

God invites you to find shelter in him:

Psalm 62 New International Version (NIV)

1 Truly my soul finds rest in God;

    my salvation comes from him.

2 Truly he is my rock and my salvation;

    he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.

3 How long will you assault me?

    Would all of you throw me down—

    this leaning wall, this tottering fence?

4 Surely they intend to topple me

    from my lofty place;

    they take delight in lies.

With their mouths they bless,

    but in their hearts they curse.

5  Yes, my soul, find rest in God;

    my hope comes from him.

6  Truly he is my rock and my salvation;

    he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.

7 My salvation and my honor depend on God;

    he is my mighty rock, my refuge.

8 Trust in him at all times, you people;

    pour out your hearts to him,

    for God is our refuge.

No matter where you find yourself today, whether it is in a strong and committed relationship or in the chaos of one that is breaking apart, pour out your heart to God and trust in him. He is your rock, your salvation, and your refuge.

God is our Rock by Kathy Schumacher

Feeling Seen

Posted on by Betsy

I can play “peek-a-boo” on an airplane for hours. I was once an exhausted young mother trying to soothe two toddlers on long flights, and I cherished that tired businessman who sat behind us and peek-a-booed my daughters into happy giggles. Now it is my turn, and I have mad skills in catching that baby’s eye and playing until they drop exhausted into Mama’s arms. I hide behind my hands, the safety demo card, the seats, and then pop up like a deranged jack-in-the-box. You didn’t see THAT one coming, did ya, little one? Like I said, mad skills.

Did you ever think that life is one long peek-a-boo game with God? We look around, searching for meaning, comfort, and help, and God is there already, looking right at us and saying, “I see you!”

The story of Zacchaeus is one long play of peek-a-boo. That wee little man was hoping to see Jesus one day as the Savior was passing down the street of his town. Being vertically challenged, he climbed up in a tree to get a better view. Images of kids being held on a parent’s shoulders to watch the fireworks at Disney World come flooding into my mind when I read this. Why do I always manage to stand behind the 6’3″ dad hoisting his five-year-old up? Suddenly, I’m Zacchaeus. Peek-a-boohoo, I can’t see anything. Oh, well, better for the child to see than me.

I digress.

So Zacchaeus, going out on a limb as it were, was watching the Jesus parade when the unthinkable happened: Jesus saw him. Peek-a-BAM! Can you even imagine? And immediately, Jesus, being Jesus, invited himself to Zacchaeus’ house for lunch. (That would have propelled me into a deep panic. Is the house vacuumed? Do I have anything in the fridge to eat? What exactly do you serve the Savior of the World for lunch?? Definitely not ham.)

Luke 19

1 Jesus was going through Jericho, 2 where a man named Zacchaeus lived. He was in charge of collecting taxes and was very rich. 3-4 Jesus was heading his way, and Zacchaeus wanted to see what he was like. But Zacchaeus was a short man and could not see over the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree.

5 When Jesus got there, he looked up and said, “Zacchaeus, hurry down! I want to stay with you today.” 6 Zacchaeus hurried down and gladly welcomed Jesus.

7 Everyone who saw this started grumbling, “This man Zacchaeus is a sinner! And Jesus is going home to eat with him.”

8 Later that day Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “I will give half of my property to the poor. And I will now pay back four times as much to everyone I have ever cheated.”

9 Jesus said to Zacchaeus, “Today you and your family have been saved, because you are a true son of Abraham. 10 The Son of Man came to look for and to save all people who are lost.”

How does it feel to know that you are seen? Sometimes in counseling, the best thing you can tell someone is, “I see your pain.” That acknowledgment of their reality often brings forth a flood of deeply hidden emotions, enabling the healing to begin.

Jesus sees you in all of your Zacchaeus-like “short” comings. He sees your current situation and he is waiting for you to look up and see him. Jesus was never afraid to get down and dirty with sinners, even though he was staunchly criticized for it. He had a very clear vision of his own mission: to come to see and save all who are lost.

This is the mission of his followers as well. We have no greater calling than to look for and save all who are lost.

About 20 years ago a man came to me after the 11:00 Sunday worship service, and he was hotter than a Georgia hornet in July. He demanded very loudly that I immediately “cancel his church membership”…like we were the Y or something. I calmly asked him why, and he explained very angrily that he noticed in the bulletin that the couple who had joined that hour had the same address, yet they were not married.

I told him that the Methodist church had no prohibition against unmarried people who lived together joining the church. He fumed that we were condoning sin by allowing them to join, and he would have no part in it. I quietly asked him, if we didn’t allow sinners to join the church, what was the point? I pointed out that if being sin-free was a requirement, all the pastoral staff would have to resign. The next Sunday he joined a small, independent church down the street and is probably still happily there today.

Listen, if you attend a church that excludes sinners from Jesus’ mission to look for and save all who are lost, find a better church. Everyone is lost, everyone has fallen short, and everyone deserves to be seen, heard, loved, cared for, served, included, forgiven, and saved.

Jesus’ call to the sinner Zacchaeus had a great sense of urgency: “Zacchaeus, hurry down! I want to stay with you today.” It is a reminder that we should not delay. The time is now to bring the presence of Jesus into your present reality and let him inspire you to make real, significant change like Zacchaeus did.

So wherever you are today, whether you are mired in sin or sitting high on a lofty tree limb of your own self-righteousness, get off it. Jesus sees you and is calling, ready to come to you. Salvation is at hand. Peek-a-boo! He sees you.

Peek a Boo Sun by Michelle Robertson

Waiting Room Wisdom

Posted on by Betsy

The saying goes that “good things come to those who wait”. I remember a time in the Navy when that saying was replaced with “hurry up and wait.” Going to the Exchange? Hurry up. Then wait. Seeing a doc at the base clinic? Hurry up. Be on time for your appointment. Then wait. The deployment is almost over … hurry up and come home! Then wait.

There are many times in everyone’s life when hurry up and wait comes in to play: College applications are due by a certain date. Hurry up and fill them out! Then wait to see if you got in. Cancer tests are scheduled for this day; hurry up and get ready! Then wait for weeks for the results. Babies come when they want to. Pre-labor beings! Hurry up! Then wait forever.

Waiting is hard. Waiting is wearisome. Waiting slap wears you OUT.

The people of Israel were promised a Messiah. The Messiah would come to rule his kingdom on earth. He would take away their sins and would save them. Under his reign, justice would flow like the waters, and there would be peace on earth. But they were beginning to get tired of waiting:

Isaiah 40 (NIV)

28 Have you not known? Have you not heard?

The Lord is the everlasting God,

    the Creator of the ends of the earth.

He does not faint or grow weary;

    his understanding is unsearchable.

29 He gives power to the faint,

    and strengthens the powerless.

30 Even youths will faint and be weary,

    and the young will fall exhausted;

31 but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength,

    they shall mount up with wings like eagles,

they shall run and not be weary,

    they shall walk and not faint.

And so Israel hurried up. And waited. Centuries passed from the time of Isaiah to the advent of Jesus Christ. And then they had waited so long, many didn’t recognize him as the Messiah. But some did. Perhaps they were the ones who waited with open anticipation. As you wait, are you open to receiving God’s answer in a completely different way than you are expecting? Jesus was not what was expected, but good things came to those who waited for him.

Those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength. Why? Because God does not faint or grow weary. God gives power to the faint. He strengthens the powerless. You will mount up with wings like eagles if you choose to wait for the Lord.

The challenge is to spend your time in the “waiting room” wisely. What else can you be doing while you wait? Can you be immersed in the word? Shoring up failing relationships? Actively spreading hope to others who are also waiting? Witnessing to God’s presence in the waiting room? Waiting rooms can be places that bear just as much fruit as delivery rooms if we keep our eyes open while we wait.

What are you waiting for right now? While we wait upon the Lord to deliver, we gain strength in knowing that God never grows weary. And so we take this time in our waiting room to grow in our love of God, of family, of faith, and in confidence that in every hurry-up and every slow-down moment, God is with us.

And I just can’t wait to see what he does.

Bay Drive Nutria

Familiar With His Voice

Posted on by Betsy

I had spotted her at events we both are required to attend and felt her discomfort. An episode in our past that did not directly involve either one of us had created a social divide. I don’t know how she had processed what happened, but I know we both have felt pain and awkwardness since.

I spotted her again at a recent event and knew I had to approach her. I suppose I will never know how it felt on her end, but I felt the strong leading of the Holy Spirit to “break the ice” and hopefully make it so that when we encounter each other again, we can nod and say good morning rather than circle the room to avoid each other.

I cannot say it was a break-through moment. I could feel her body stiffen up as I approached her. I said good morning, asked her how she was, and let her know I was praying for her family. Her responses were polite and minimal, making me fear that my “drive-by compassion” had really caught her off guard and did not bridge the awkwardness that I had hoped it would. Worse, I fear I may have caused her pain by speaking to her, something completely opposite of what I was hoping to do.

So then I did what we all do in that moment. I began to question whose leading I was truly following by approaching her. … God’s or mine?

I talked to a mom in my church last week who expressed the same confusion. Praying for her son had led her to believe that a situation would be resolved in a particular way. When that did not transpire, she naturally began to question whether she was hearing God’s voice or her own as she prayed.

God speaks to us in ways that we do not communicate with others. His Spirit speaks to our spirit and we “hear” what he is saying….but only if we are tuned in with fine precision. This requires spending a lot of time in his presence, so that the voice becomes clearer with each encounter. We tune in every time we pray, serve, worship, meditate, fellowship, and SIT with his word.

John 10 The Message (MSG)

He Calls His Sheep by Name

10 1-5 “Let me set this before you as plainly as I can. If a person climbs over or through the fence of a sheep pen instead of going through the gate, you know he’s up to no good—a sheep rustler! The shepherd walks right up to the gate. The gatekeeper opens the gate to him and the sheep recognize his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he gets them all out, he leads them and they follow because they are familiar with his voice. They won’t follow a stranger’s voice but will scatter because they aren’t used to the sound of it.”

6-10 Jesus told this simple story, but they had no idea what he was talking about. So he tried again. “I’ll be explicit, then. I am the Gate for the sheep. All those others are up to no good—sheep stealers, every one of them. But the sheep didn’t listen to them. I am the Gate. Anyone who goes through me will be cared for—will freely go in and out, and find pasture. A thief is only there to steal and kill and destroy. I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of.

14-18 “I am the Good Shepherd. I know my own sheep and my own sheep know me. In the same way, the Father knows me and I know the Father. I put the sheep before myself, sacrificing myself if necessary. You need to know that I have other sheep in addition to those in this pen. I need to gather and bring them, too. They’ll also recognize my voice. Then it will be one flock, one Shepherd.”

Recognizing God’s voice in the cacophony of all the sounds swirling in our minds and hearts takes practice, discernment, and the constant abiding in God’s word, God’s will and his presence. The good news is he loves his sheep. He is constantly calling, cajoling, rebuking, correcting, wooing, comforting, directing, and saying words of caring to us.

Are you trying to hear God today? Tune in, stay tuned, adjust your dial, and wait. The Good Shepherd is calling.

Determined Pansy by Kathy Schumacher

Don’t Let Go of the Rope

Posted on by Betsy

I have been blessed to serve two churches with outstanding preschools. At both the Peachtree City United Methodist Church and the Kitty Hawk United Methodist Church, I have been able to look out my office window and see kids running around, playing, laughing, and learning. When I moved to the Outer Banks and had my first conversation with my District Superintendent about where I might serve, I emphasized to him that I hoped I could serve a church with a preschool. It is that important to me.

One of my favorite things to see in September is the youngest group of children learning how to walk in a line. Isn’t’ it funny to think that at one point when you were little, you had to be taught how to walk in a line? For safety and for learning, our two-year old class of Seal Pups walks with a rope. The rope has handles for each child, and they go marching along the sidewalk to the playground each holding on tight. Kids-on-a-rope is one of the cutest things you will ever see.

We all need a rope to hang on to, don’t we? We need the security and comfort of attaching ourselves to something bigger and stronger in those times when we feel weak and afraid. We need to attach ourselves to something that won’t let go of us.

Let’s see what Joshua says about it:

Joshua 1:9 New International Version (NIV)

9 Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”

That, right there, is your rope. The Lord your God will be with you wherever you go. Every preschool child knows that the teacher will never let go of them. And those kids hang on for life.

So, too, should we hang on to Jesus….for life. One of his strongest promises to us comes in the book of John when he says, “I came that you might have life and have it ABUNDANTLY.” Not just ordinary life, not just plain day to day life, but abundant life. Think about that last word … abundantly. The Greek translation of that word is “pertaining to that which is not ordinarily encountered.” So what Christ offers is something extreme, something extraordinary, something that surpasses everything else. Christ offers true, real, deep and abiding happiness.

But sometimes our happiness, our joy, and our peace get stolen. And we know by whom. It says in the Scripture, “The thief comes to KILL, STEAL and destroy.”  We know that this passage is referring to Satan. And we know what tools he uses … he uses worry. He uses anxiety. He uses fear. He uses distraction and confusion. And when those things are deployed, we lose our grip on Jesus and let go of the rope.

Friends, don’t let go of the rope. Don’t take your eyes off of Jesus. Don’t let worry blur your vision. Do not be afraid! For the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.

Don’t Let Go by Michelle Robertson

What, Me Worry?

Posted on by Betsy

A few weeks ago I led a women’s workshop on anxiety and worry, and I was profoundly moved by the responses around the room to the subject matter. There was not a single person there who does not struggle with anxiety in some form. Several women approached me during the breaks and said that they feel overwhelmed with worry about what is happening in our country. Does that describe you, too?

Our worries typically center around family, security, finances, health, self-esteem, and other personal issues. What do you worry about the most?

Today we will look at the beautiful story of Joshua, who provides an antidote to worry for us this morning.

Joshua 1:8

“Never stop reading The Book of the Law he gave you. Day and night you must think about what it says. If you obey it completely, you and Israel will be able to take this land.”

You remember that Joshua was the successor to Moses. The Israelites had escaped from Egypt and Moses sent out twelve spies to check out the land. Ten came back and spread fear and anxiety about the “giants” they saw. But Joshua and Caleb came back with calm reports of a land filled with milk and honey. So Joshua was chosen to lead the people after Moses died, and he took the nation of Israel into the Promised Land. There were many battles to be fought, rivers to cross, hardship and hunger to endure … not to mention that the people had already proven themselves to be a bunch of whiners and complainers. But Joshua understood that God would be with them all the way and he could count on God to give them everything they needed.

So looking at that passage again, we can see three things that we can do when worry overcomes us:

READ GOD’S WORD

THINK AND MEDITATE 

OBEY

So the way we can use this as a weapon in the battle against worry is this: Let’s say your morning worry is about traffic, car accidents, personal safety, or concern for your family’. You might find that it is while driving your car that your worries begin to take you over and you fall prey to WHATIFITIS….what if this happens, what if I’m late, what if that car suddenly stops in front of me, what if my son gets in an accident on his way to work, what if my child gets hit by a car getting off the school bus, what if I didn’t latch the baby’s car seat correctly, etc.

So now, let’s imagine you schedule a mere five minutes extra in your morning routine. In fact, you don’t need five extra minutes, just keep your devotional resource available in the bathroom. Most of us spend more than five minutes in there getting ready for the morning. You may be reading this in the bathroom today as you are brushing your teeth and preparing for the day. Good on you!

So, you read a five minute devotional with a bible verse in it. You get in your car. Instead of going through your Worry Loop, you force your mind to think of nothing else but the verse and the devotional that you read first thing. You feel God urging you in some way to respond to the passage. You obey that nudge and think of ways to live that out today. Read, think about it, and obey.

It is in the obey part that we turn our worry into action. When you meditate on Scripture first thing in the morning, you can use it to beat back the worry and focus on what God is calling you to do. Is the Holy Spirit prompting you to call and check on a friend? Are you being directed to stop at the grocery store for donations to your local food pantry? Do you need to write a quick text or email to offer a word of encouragement to someone who is struggling? Based on the Scripture you read, what are you supposed to do today?

Obeying the Word and the prompting of the Holy Spirit is a fine way to keep worry at bay. Taking a proactive stand and living out that Scripture will re-focus your thoughts on what God is doing in your midst, with you as his vessel.

Are you worried today? Go and do something about it.

No Worries Here by Kathy Schumacher

Over ALL Things

Posted on by Betsy

Let’s take a look at Paul’s famous love passage one last time, and today, pay particular attention to verse 7:

1 Corinthians 13 (New Revised Standard Version )

4 Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable; it keeps no record of wrongs; 6 it does not rejoice in wrongdoing but rejoices in the truth. 

7 It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

This love comes from Jesus, who loves with an agape love that Paul contends is patient, kind, and “bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things.”

Did you notice how Paul repeated the word “all” four times in one sentence? Paul used the Greek word “panta” for “all things” in this passage, which leaves no room for doubt about what he is saying. 

Panta means “all encompassing.” For example, the word pantheism is the belief that God is in everything. The word pantry is the place where you put all your food. A panacea is a cure for everything. So Paul is emphatically saying that love doesn’t exclude anything or anyone in the way that it bears everything, believes everything, hopes everything, and endures everything. No one is left out. Cherry picking things to love that are lovable doesn’t qualify. 

This passage challenges us as individuals and as a church that we are to love as Christ loves. Are we truly a church of open hearts, open minds, and open doors? Even when we experience differences, do we put on love over everything?  Remember what Paul wrote to the church at Colossae: 

Colossians 3 (Common English Bible)

12 Therefore, as God’s choice, holy and loved, put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. 13 Be tolerant with each other and, if someone has a complaint against anyone, forgive each other. As the Lord forgave you, so also forgive each other. 14 And over all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. 

There’s that word again: all things. Over ALL THINGS put on love.

To be called to offer agape love to the world is the mission of the church, and it starts here. Our one and only job is to teach the world hope that is grounded in God’s unconditional and unwavering love for all of us. At the end of time we will be judged on one thing alone, and that is our ability to love.

How are we doing?

Over All Things by Michelle Robertson

What Love Isn’t

Posted on by Betsy

1 Corinthians 13 (New Revised Standard Version)

13 If I speak in the tongues of humans and of angels but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers and understand all mysteries and all knowledge and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all my possessions and if I hand over my body so that I may boast[a] but do not have love, I gain nothing.

4 Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable; it keeps no record of wrongs; 6 it does not rejoice in wrongdoing but rejoices in the truth. 7 It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

One of the things I love about Scripture is how you can read it at about 85% of your weddings over 25 years of ordained ministry and all of a sudden you spot something new when you read it one day. That happened to me last week when I suddenly noticed that of all the things Paul said that love IS, he mentioned way more things that love ISN’T. Did you ever notice that before? Do you think that was intentional? Given what he was up against at his church, I definitely think he was calling them out because they were doing way more things that love isn’t than what love is. So Paul is giving us multiple words about what love isn’t in order to help us discover what love is. Listen again to what he said:

4 …love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice in wrongdoing but rejoices in the truth.

So that is what love isn’t. 

It isn’t arrogant, so love would never think its own opinion was more intelligent or valuable than another person’s idea. Indeed, love would quietly accept diverse thoughts and listen carefully to other perspectives. 

Love isn’t jealous and doesn’t covet the things other people have. Love is satisfied with what it has and doesn’t need to go out and look for a younger model.

Love doesn’t seek its own advantage, which means that love celebrates everyone else’s achievements and success, and doesn’t put someone down in order to lift itself up. When there is no jealousy, there is no competition for attention. 

Love isn’t rude, so love is careful to be polite in conversations. Relationships break down when labeling, finger-pointing, and name-calling happen, so love is careful to show respect to others. 

Love isn’t irritable, so love takes a moment when something irritates it and prayerfully figures out a mature way to respond. 

Love never enters an argument with a list of past grievances, because love FORGIVES. Have you ever been in an argument with a loved one and find yourself re-hashing old issues? Is that love? What love forgives, love forgets.

One of the things love doesn’t love is injustice and so love works hard to be sure everyone is treated fairly. And love loves truth, especially the One who is the Way, the Life, and the Truth.

I think Paul’s advice can stand as a valuable checklist for evaluating the quality of our love. If you approach your loved ones, your friends, and your neighbors as a jealous, complaining, irritable, rude, and offensive smart-alack, you might need to have yourself a “come to Jesus moment”. Because nowhere in scripture does it say that Jesus loved like that.

Take a look back at what love isn’t and use it as an evaluation of the love you show people. How do you measure up to Paul’s standard of love? Are there any areas for improvement?

Paul says if we do not have love, we are nothing. Go out and be a something today.

Rejoice by Michelle Robertson

Agape Love

Posted on by Betsy

Last Sunday I had an opportunity to preach and the lectionary assignment was 1 Corinthians 13, Paul’s famous “love passage.” I think I have read this at about 85% of the weddings I have officiated. It was read at my wedding and my parents, too. Was it read at yours?

1 Corinthians 13 (New International Version)

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

While this is a fabulous choice for a wedding homily, Paul did not have weddings in mind. Indeed, he wrote this as a kind of rebuke to his church in Corinth. You see, the church had fallen into divisions based on several popular leader’s personalities. Some people in the church claimed to be “from Apollos,” others from “Cephas,” and others from Paul himself. Paul insisted they all consider themselves to be from Christ and Christ alone. He pleaded for them to be of one mind and one purpose, pointing out in Chapter 12 that each person was given a spiritual gift to be used in conjunction with the others for the betterment of the entire Body. This current division along the lines of personality cults was very disturbing to Paul.

The result of their infighting was bitter partisanship that resulted in a complete failure to relate to one another in love. The dramatic failure of these church leaders to act humbly and appropriately in the face of competition for status and influence fueled the division, and some took to adopting arrogant positions of theology that opposed what the Scriptures actually said. Does any of this sound familiar? I think we could drop Paul’s response right into today’s world. Corinth was in the middle of a culture war … I would argue that so are we. Corinth was suffering greatly from people blindly following personality cults, and they completely forgot that Jesus is the only leader we should follow.

So, let’s talk about love.

In the New Testament, we find three forms of the Greek word for love. The first is eros, which describes the intimate, passionate love between two people. This is the love we experience in physical intimacy, and it is a love to be celebrated according to Paul.

The second form of love in the New Testament is philia, which describes the love between friends. It is a fellowship love, a brotherly love … in fact, philia is the root for the name of the city of Philadelphia, the “city of brotherly love.” Many of you know that I grew up eleven miles outside of Philadelphia, so you will forgive me when I point out that if you want to experience the brotherly love of that city, don’t attend a sporting event there. Philly fans are a breed unto their own, I’m telling you!

The last form of love is the word agape, which is defined as a love that is given with no expectation of return or reward. It is a self-sacrificing love. It is a love that gives no thought to self-interest, self-gratification, or self-preservation, but offers unconditional love at any cost. It is a Jesus-on-the-cross kind of love. Some of you have experienced agape firsthand on a Walk to Emmaus. This is the kind of love that Paul talks about in 1 Corinthians 13, and I promise you, it will be agape love that will save the world.

The challenge of the church and the mission of the church is to show agape to a world that doesn’t understand the concept. How can you do that today? How can you show undeserved love to your family, friends, and neighbors? Where will you be the reflection of Jesus that loves with no expectation of return or reward?

Go out today and agape someone. You will be blessed if you do.

Jupiter and the Moon by Gary McDonald

Baby Dunes

Posted on by Betsy

Sand dunes grow. They are a complex, living infrastructure of sand, water, vegetation, and wind. Along the Outer Banks, the dunes protect the inner parts of the island from the encroaching seas. We boast of having the largest sand dune on the East Coast here in Nags Head, called Jockey’s Ridge. This massive, moving dune is so big, it has completely swallowed up a mini-golf course.

In the last few years, the Outer Banks has recently undergone extensive beach nourishment along our coastline. Erosion, seas and winds have threatened our beaches for decades, and so our towns have responded with a nourishment program that effectively extended the beach by pumping off-shore sand onto the shoreline.

The Baby Dune Planting effort began in hopes of stabilizing the protective dunes. Baby dunes are intentionally planted with vegetation such as sea oats, hearty grasses, and dense patches of dune mats that take root and hold the dune together. If the vegetation is damaged, the dune will fail, the water will breach, and roads and homes are affected.

The most threatening thing to baby dune growth is people. People ignore the “Keep Off” signs and walk over the dune rather than go a few hundred yards away to a groomed beach access. Beach goers, not wind, are the biggest threat to the stability of this fragile ecosystem.

Colossians 2 (The Message)

My counsel for you is simple and straightforward: Just go ahead with what you’ve been given. You have received Christ Jesus, the Master. Now LIVE him. You’re deeply rooted in him. You’re constructed upon him. You know your way around the faith. Now do what you’ve been taught. School’s out; quit studying the subject and start LIVING it! And let your living spill over into thanksgiving.

This passage talks about taking root in Christ. One of the interesting things about the dune grasses and vegetation mats is that their roots aren’t exceptionally deep, but they spread over the top of the dune and provide anchoring to the top layer of sand. Their extensive system of creeping underground stems keeps the dune intact in the winds.

Much in the same way, rooting ourselves in Christ protects our lives and keeps us intact when the winds of change begin to blow hard. In the midst of adversities, when in the blink of an eye something changes, those matted, secure roots of faith, fellowship, meditation, prayer, worship, and scripture reading can provide resistance.

A friend suddenly lost her mother last week. The death was unexpected and has caught the family terribly off guard. As she is slowly negotiating her new reality, it is her roots in Christ and the interconnected family around her that is keeping her together right now. Another friend is struggling with her spouse’s addiction. The vegetation mat of hope, help, and knowing she is not alone is keeping her strong in her storm.

I don’t know what kind of figurative or literal hurricane you are going through this morning but hear this: You are meant to just go ahead with what you’ve been given. You are meant to receive all that Christ died to give you. You are well constructed on him, and no wind of change, no matter how strong, is going to blow you over. Now do what you’ve been taught! Stay strong, stand firm, and let your living spill over into thanksgiving, even in the storm. God’s got you…and he will never let go.

Sunrise Dune by Michelle Robertson