Share the Love

How do you share the love?  Tis the end of the season – the season of engagement.  There is a very specific kind of love being shared.  From Thanksgiving to Valentine’s Day 40% of all couple get engaged.  There is something about this holiday season, maybe it’s seeing family and friends and having more free time that allows couple to pop the question.  This Sunday we are talking about love!  It’s not all about romantic love.  There is nothing wrong with that, of course.  Marriage and sex is by God’s design, after all.

I want to show you this article from the WSJ.  Apparently it’s not crazy to just get married when your young.  Turns out you don’t need to live together first.  In fact, this study of 50,000 ladies shows that your relationship and marriages will be happier, last longer, and have a lower divorce rate if you don’t live together first.  A full 70% of all couples do, but that’s not the best path forward.

This isn’t news to the Christian, but it’s always… refreshing to see the world peer into Christianity with wondering eyes to see the wisdom that our God has.  The text from 1 Corinthians 12 and 13 isn’t all about romantic love.  The focus is the loving usage of the spiritual gifts that God has given to his church.

To be clear, it doesn’t matter how we use our gifts, they are meaningless if we don’t have the love of Jesus.  The humanitarian aid that found it’s way to the victims of Tonga volcano was incredible.  Those who acted, not in love as the hands and feet of Christ, but instead to make the world a better place, are nothing.  Bill Gates is quite a generous fellow.  If he joined a monastery tomorrow and gave away his fortune in one fell swoop to find a cure for COVID.  Let’s say that the cure was found!  It would be nothing.  I’m not saying it wouldn’t be a wonderful thing for the world or that my own family wouldn’t benefit from that discovery.  What I am saying is that without the love of Christ motivating it and any other good work, it’s meaningless.

Before you think bad thoughts about Pastor Fred.  Consider one more hypothetical act of charity.  Remember how Jesus died on the cross to save us from our sins, the devil, and eternity in hell.  What if he didn’t quite make it to the cross, but he fed the masses for the next ten years.  What if for the decade after that he set up the Jesus clinic for sick people and thousands and thousands of people came to be healed.  During that time he rebuke four hurricanes before making landfall and stopped a tsunami dead in the water.  The result is that all of those people helped by Jesus would be in hell forever.  Without the love of Christ who took away the sins of the world, your life is meaningless.

Want to hear more?  Watch this Sunday’s message taken from 1 Corinthians 12 and 13 – Share the Love.