As a Result

                God did it again. You know, when he sneaks up behind you and puts his finger on that one lesson that you've learned one thousand times before-but got so busy and distracted that your forgot it again? Yeah, he did that to me. I was reading during my God time and came across a verse I had already underlined in my Bible. This means of course that I at some point found it profound and wanted to remember it. However this day as I read over the verse one single phrase stuck out.

 
 

+ 1 Thessalonians 3:12-13 (NLT) "And may the Lord make your love for one another and for all people grow and overflow, just as our love for you overflows. ¹³ May he, as a result, make your hearts strong, blameless, and holy as you stand before God our Father when our Lord Jesus comes again with all his holy people. Amen."

 
 

Did you catch it? Paul is encouraging the believers to continue in the pouring out of their lives in love. We all know about the times that Jesus specifically shared how the greatest commandment, even about the Law of Moses, is to LOVE the Lord your God with all your heart, mind and soul, and to LOVE your neighbor as yourself. (Matt 22:34) How far we stray from this reality of faith! How many churches make the Gospel all about the style of music they play, or the color of the carpet-or my personal favorite, the version of Bible you read. That's a deal breaker. No, Jesus on more than one occasion stressed what the hinge of the door of salvation was-love. To love God, and to love others.

 

Now while many a church is debating whether the keyboard is worse than a drum set there are many Christians who are working on their spiritual complexion. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not just harping on churches. I love church. I love the body of Christ; there is just the reality that many who claim to be part of this body are actually currently taking a saw-zaw to their ankle. I don't feel too horrible about calling out the pride filled Christian because I've been there. I've been self focused and misdirected. But God's grace and loving family have helped me realign my own focus. Like I said, we as 'the church' can get so wrapped up on achieving holiness that we forget the reason that we are to be holy. God called us to be holy-for he is holy. But his holiness draws the lost to repentance. It's always about others; it's never been just about you. We have to stop getting so caught up in fixing ourselves that we stand right in front of a person and watch them crumble, and we never lift a finger from our own face to help them.

 

I want to propose to you that you should stop fixing yourself. Some friends and I have been discussing this and it just keeps coming up. Now this isn't to say that we ignore our own problems, Jesus also addresses hypocrisy. Yes grow, be challenged and address the issues in yourself-but not at the expense of the people in your life. If we would open our eyes, if we would stop looking in the mirror then maybe, just maybe, others would have the chance to see the piece of God you've been so zealously polishing and hording. If you read the scripture I mentioned again, it says that God is working out love in our life, so that it over flows—and as a result we become strong and blameless and holy. And isn't the Bride of Christ supposed to be spotless and holy? How else are we ever going to get there without love?

Love other people today. Let God do a work of holiness in you. He calls us to be holy like he is holy-and he is love, as a result, God will see us as holy.