Monday, May 05, 2008
All Because of Love
In my small group at church we've begun our study on spiritual gifts. In our study, Sylvia, who's kind of like our leader, has asked us to get acquainted with a number of passages. One of them is Romans 12:3-8.
As I read through this passage, the verse that caught my attention was just beyond it in verse 9; "Love must be sincere, hate what is evil; cling to what is good."
Immediately after the section where Paul tells the Romans to encourage, not stifle, people to use their gifts, he reminds them of the importance of love. And even during the passage itself he exhorts them in the same direction...
"Do not hink of yourself more highly than you ought, but rahter think of yourself with sober judgement, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you." vs 3.
"We have different gifts according to the grace given to us..." vs. 6
It is important, I think, to consider the Roman class system and the hierarchy of power that pervaded through their culture. Roman citizens themselves were regarded as superior to anyone else simply for having the fortune of being born in Rome. So for Paul to remind them that they must not think of themselves higher than they should is essentially telling us that all believers in Christ are on equal footing. One is not more important, or better, because they go to this church or that church. Nor does one's family or backround make them greater - be it a background of wealth and respect or one of poverty & pain. We must not think of ourselves higher than we "ought" but we "ought" to remember that Christ saw us as precious, valuable, and worth suffering the worst so that we could be forgiven. Paul's "ought" refers us to our value to God, to each other, and not to the value of our name, fortune, or our deeds.
With that, Paul takes us through a list of certain "doings" kinds of gifts: Prophesying, Serving, Teaching, Encouraging, Giving, Leadership, and Mercy.
All of these actions carry with them the power to puff-up, or the power to give pride to those who practice them. It's easy to see that with the gifts of prophesy, teaching, giving & leadership. We all know or have seen people in these positions who have fallen into the trap Paul warned about. They take pride and even become arrogant about their positions and what they do.
But how often do we also become or see the spiteful server, the depressed encourager, and the angry mercenary? As one who has been a server, I can attest to doing it begrudgeingly, feeling that no one paid any attention to it and letting my anger & spite move me as I completed one task or another - even getting upset at those who benefitted from my actions. I wanted to boast in what I had done - to receive the praise the leaders got.
As an encourager there are times when long bouts of silent depressions swept in and while I could make others happy, it felt such the chore to the point of hating the happiness I saw in others. And while I don't have an experience with mercy, I am sure that this concept applies to those who give mercy and offer acceptance, feeling shunned and unaccepted at the same time. But they continue to show mercy out of obligation and a need to DO something to prove their worth.
And THAT is where verse nine comes in. Our love must be sincere. These actions we do, this carrying out of our gifts, must come from a place of sincere love and nothing else. That's why Paul tells us to hate evil and cling to what is good. Evil is the prideful motivation, the spite and the anger, the sadness and the desire to boast. Love comes from the heart, it comes from the goodness of God's grace and his unimaginable depth of love for all of us, for everyone.
I am impressed everyday with how much I am lacking in love and how great and wide is the scope of God's forgiveness. Christ's love changed the world. Love that is sincere has the power to change hearts, change lives, and change our world.
All because of love.
In my small group at church we've begun our study on spiritual gifts. In our study, Sylvia, who's kind of like our leader, has asked us to get acquainted with a number of passages. One of them is Romans 12:3-8.
As I read through this passage, the verse that caught my attention was just beyond it in verse 9; "Love must be sincere, hate what is evil; cling to what is good."
Immediately after the section where Paul tells the Romans to encourage, not stifle, people to use their gifts, he reminds them of the importance of love. And even during the passage itself he exhorts them in the same direction...
"Do not hink of yourself more highly than you ought, but rahter think of yourself with sober judgement, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you." vs 3.
"We have different gifts according to the grace given to us..." vs. 6
It is important, I think, to consider the Roman class system and the hierarchy of power that pervaded through their culture. Roman citizens themselves were regarded as superior to anyone else simply for having the fortune of being born in Rome. So for Paul to remind them that they must not think of themselves higher than they should is essentially telling us that all believers in Christ are on equal footing. One is not more important, or better, because they go to this church or that church. Nor does one's family or backround make them greater - be it a background of wealth and respect or one of poverty & pain. We must not think of ourselves higher than we "ought" but we "ought" to remember that Christ saw us as precious, valuable, and worth suffering the worst so that we could be forgiven. Paul's "ought" refers us to our value to God, to each other, and not to the value of our name, fortune, or our deeds.
With that, Paul takes us through a list of certain "doings" kinds of gifts: Prophesying, Serving, Teaching, Encouraging, Giving, Leadership, and Mercy.
All of these actions carry with them the power to puff-up, or the power to give pride to those who practice them. It's easy to see that with the gifts of prophesy, teaching, giving & leadership. We all know or have seen people in these positions who have fallen into the trap Paul warned about. They take pride and even become arrogant about their positions and what they do.
But how often do we also become or see the spiteful server, the depressed encourager, and the angry mercenary? As one who has been a server, I can attest to doing it begrudgeingly, feeling that no one paid any attention to it and letting my anger & spite move me as I completed one task or another - even getting upset at those who benefitted from my actions. I wanted to boast in what I had done - to receive the praise the leaders got.
As an encourager there are times when long bouts of silent depressions swept in and while I could make others happy, it felt such the chore to the point of hating the happiness I saw in others. And while I don't have an experience with mercy, I am sure that this concept applies to those who give mercy and offer acceptance, feeling shunned and unaccepted at the same time. But they continue to show mercy out of obligation and a need to DO something to prove their worth.
And THAT is where verse nine comes in. Our love must be sincere. These actions we do, this carrying out of our gifts, must come from a place of sincere love and nothing else. That's why Paul tells us to hate evil and cling to what is good. Evil is the prideful motivation, the spite and the anger, the sadness and the desire to boast. Love comes from the heart, it comes from the goodness of God's grace and his unimaginable depth of love for all of us, for everyone.
I am impressed everyday with how much I am lacking in love and how great and wide is the scope of God's forgiveness. Christ's love changed the world. Love that is sincere has the power to change hearts, change lives, and change our world.
All because of love.
