A Simple Message
St. Stephan’s Church in Mainz, Germany
Today’s excerpt from Paul’s first letter to the Church in Corinth is short and sweet.
Keep alert, stand firm in your faith, be courageous, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love. - 1 Corinthians 16:13-14
It takes strength to stand firm in your faith sometimes. There is always someone who criticizes of pokes fun at us for the things we do or believe, but Paul wants the members of the church to know that there is a way to be solid in faith, and that is to do everything with love.
The challenge for us is to withhold judgment of others who act out of love but do things we disagree with. If all we do in love is to be understood by others, then we should be willing to understand that others may do things in love that make us shake our heads in disbelief.
This is the heart of understanding one another, to know that each of us has a unique way of seeing the world, and so how we choose to express our love for others may be different.
If we can find the love, we can overcome our differences.
That is a simple message indeed, but not an easy one to follow.
More to come...