“But concerning brotherly love you have no need that I should write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another; and indeed you do so toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia. But we urge you, brethren, that you increase more and more; that you also aspire to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you, that you may walk properly toward those who are outside, and that you may lack nothing.” I Thessalonians 4:9-12 NKJV
One Wednesday evening after the youth service, the youth leader Bob noticed Leigh lingering behind the rest. While the other youth had gone outside to the basketball court behind the church to shoot some ball, she was still sitting in her chair.
“Is something wrong, Leigh?” he asked quietly as his wife Sue joined him.
Sue sat beside her. “Do you want to talk about it?”
“Ever since I started coming with Pam,” Leigh began. “I have waited for the other shoe to drop. You know, for you to be fake or mean or uncaring. I could not understand how a God who is supposed to love me could let my dad be sick. Or let His church be mean to us. I’m starting to see that this church is different. Maybe God does love me after all. I want to know more…”
The challenge is clear. Love is the ultimate answer. Living the life, being Jesus to a lost and hurting world is clearly pointed out in scripture. As we come to the end of this series, you will notice Paul’s last words. He talks about properly walking toward those outside. This is about earning a good reputation outside of the church by your love for others, quiet life, minding your own business and working. Every one of these actions shows love for people and people are hungry to see genuine love.
Leigh was not won over by condemnation, guilt or shame. She saw love in action by many different people throughout a church and through it saw Jesus. That is what it is all about. Our love is increasing, our actions are following the lead of love and people are finding a relationship with Jesus, healing, deliverance, and restoration for their needs.
You might notice that Paul also says we will lack nothing. I believe God will supply our needs, whether physical, mental, emotional, financial or spiritual as we are living the life. We are supplying the needs of others to the best of our ability and God is meeting ours. What a glorious exchange!
Let us in the Church live the life. I want to see a day when no one will talk about how judged they were by the Church but they found God in spite of the judgment. I want to see the Church live the life, to walk as Jesus walked. The challenge is clear. Are you ready to accept it and live it out? Today…
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