Running the Race in 2015

"And...they're off!!"

How many times have you heard the voice over the loudspeaker yell those words as the racers tear out from the starting line? I love to watch a race and see the runners all jump as one from their beginning stance to leap into action for the race they've been anxiously waiting for in the preceding hours.

At the beginning of the new year, do you feel a little bit of that excitement? Did you watch a ball drop to kick off the new year a few days ago? Here in Nashville, we dropped (or slowly lowered, actually) a musical note downtown to countdown to the first seconds of the new year.

Do you feel the fresh start of the new year? Do you have resolutions for change or goals for new accomplishments? 

I stopped making new year's resolutions years ago. Probably because I stopped achieving my new year's resolutions years ago! I just got tired of achieving all of those promises and ridiculous goals that I set for myself. But that doesn't stop me from taking a fresh look at my life and evaluating what things I might change or what areas I might be able to improve with a bit of discipline and effort.

We've been studying the book of 1 Corinthians in our Sunday school class at church and as it turned out, we reached the thirteenth chapter yesterday. You know...the chapter of the New Testament all about love. So we read these verses:

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but I do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so that I can remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away everything I own, and if I give over my body in order to boast, but do not have love, I receive no benefit.

Those are just the first three verses. It took us a while to get through those, because we realized that those present a pretty tall order. The first two verses, or sentences, aren't so tough; I don't think that speaking in tongues of men and angels is going to get me very far. I'm a bit surprised that being able to move mountains (MOUNTAINS!!), knowing all mysteries and all knowledge (ALL KNOWLEDGE!!!) would seriously mean I am nothing. Really??? 

But let's talk about this third verse: Are you seriously telling me that if I give absolutely everything I own to charity--to feed starving children, to save animals, or something else that really matters--and donate all my organs for harvest...that's not a benefit on its own? Doesn't just DOING THAT count as love anyway???

Then what in the world am I supposed to set as my "goals"? How am I supposed to make plans to be better if none of this stuff is going to get me anywhere? Really??? If this isn't love, WHAT IS???

Love is patient, love is kind, it is not envious. Love does not brag, it is not puffed up. It is not rude, it is not self-serving, it is not easily angered or resentful. It is not glad about injustice, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. (vv. 4-7)

So I just have to do those things. I have to be patient. I have to be kind. I need to stop being envious. I'll stop bragging, stop being puffed up. I'll stop being rude, stop being self-serving. I won't get angry...

Okay, this isn't going to work. Unless...ummm...

The person who does not love does not know God, because God is love. (1 John 4:8)

God IS love. So in the new year, here is my resolution: More love. More God. In and all over everything. If I do anything, it is through and with God...love. 

For this is the way God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)

Share the Love - episode 2

Before we move on to the suggested activities of sharing the love, let's add one more foundational layer.

If you've been a student of the Bible for any amount of time, you are hopefully aware of the Love Chapter found in 1 Corinthians 13. Here is a portion:

"If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

"Love never fails." (verses 1-8)

No wonder we go back to those verses over and over again to be reminded of how we are to live. But as a reminder of why we are to live this way, let's go back and reread these verses a little differently. Take a minute to read these verses again, but this time substitute the word "love" with the word "God," and the word "it" with the word "He" when appropriate. You'll get the hang of it. Remember...God is love.

Did you try it? Did the verses take on new meaning?

When we share love with those around us--not just kindness, but real compassionate love--we are sharing God. We are bringing the presence of God into their lives and into the world. He has called us to be His ambassadors. What in the world is more important than that?