We are in the second quarter of the year and things are still topsy turvy. Many of us started the year quoting that this is the year of “Clear Vision” or “Perfect Vision”. We were excited about what God was going to do in us, through us and for us. However, as the year progressed it seemed that things got worse instead of better. COVID-19 hit the nation like a wrecking ball hitting a brick wall. Its demolished somethings that we had built up in our every day lives. Many began working from home, our children had to adjust to being home schooled, the sanctuary’s closed their doors and turned to social media; grocery stores and other establishments began to put limits on how many items we could purchase, no more Friday night at the movies, it appeared that the entire world came to a standstill. As the world stopped, something began to happen. You could hear the heartbeat of God; you could see the hands and feet of God move throughout the earth. We began to do what God said, we began to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. Matthew 22: 37-40 reads, 37) And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38) This is the great and first commandment. 39) And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40) On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
The concern was no longer about making sure that our family is good, but it became making sure that our neighbors were good. Even during chaos, rioting, gun violence, racism, and police brutality, the concern is still the same “neighbor, you good”. We had become a nation, a country, a state, a city, a community that were more concerned about ourselves than our brothers and sisters. We didn’t want to get involved in the matters of our neighbors. Every day we passed by people, some spoke, and others turned their heads. The question was often asked, “How are you?”, but the reality was we didn’t really care. It was just part of the daily routine that we all had become apart of. The human part of humanity had been removed from our day to day interactions with one another. It took God rearranging our lives and allowing this pandemic to open our eyes to see the big picture.
The world needs more LOVE!!!! Yes, I used the “L” word. Love, love, love and more love. If we put-on rose-colored glasses that have been covered with love, we would see things differently, including people. Love has no color, love has no boundaries, love doesn’t come with restrictions, love doesn’t come with strings, love doesn’t come with ultimatums or ulterior motives. Love comes with open arms and an open heart. 1 Corinthians 13 says, 1) If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not 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, to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3) If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. 4) Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5) or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6) it does not rejoice at wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. 7) Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8) Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9) For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10) but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 11) When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 12) For now, we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. 13) So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
Love is an action word, its not just lip service. So, with all that, show love instead of hate, share love instead of gossip, give love instead of an attitude. Let your love be contagious, love on someone today and receive the love from others.
Love Minister T. P. Lane
“U. R. Valued”
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