Pursue Love

Go after a life of love as if your life depended on it—because it does. 
(1 Corinthians 14:1 The Message) 

What are you pursuing everyday of your life?  I mean when you are at work or school or your daily routine - what is your pursuit?  Your future?  Your plans? 

I look at my life and I wonder if I do everything I do for the pursuit of love!  Do I love the Lord my God with all my heart, soul and strength?  Sometimes I have to admit I may enjoy being loved but my response is not always to love others because I am loved.  

Bankrpt without Love

If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love.
Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.
Love doesn’t strut,
Doesn’t have a swelled head,
Doesn’t force itself on others,
Isn’t always “me first,”
Doesn’t fly off the handle,
Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn’t revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.
(1 Corinthians 13:3-7 The Message) 

I am bankrupt without love!  How dependent are you on the love of God for your life?  This passage is about the perfect unconditional love of Christ that God says is available to us!  It is our goal!  It is our hope!  Our human love is conditional.  We love others who love us back and are easy to love, but God love everyone completely and unconditionally!

Spiritual Gifts

 Paul writes in his first letter to the church in Corinth - A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other.  (1 Corinthians 12:7) Everyone who has the spirit of God living and active in their lives will have some form of a spiritual gift.  It seems obvious when you think of the most powerful force in the universe living inside of us would want to give us some ability that is beyond ourselves.

We all have natural talents and abilities that are also a gift form God!  We have all that we have because of the gift of God.  Life and breath depend on God this very minute.  So we all have talents and abilities that we need to continue to develop and that God can help us develop, but these are different than the gifts the Holy Spirit brings when we allow God to work in us.

Paul list a few examples:  wise counsel, special knowledge, great faith, healing, perform miracles, prophesy, discerning whether something is from God or not, speak and interpret unknown languages.
We can all receive spiritual gifts from God's Holy Spirit!

They are gifts from God and he determines who will have what gift.  God won't be manipulated into giving you a gift you want - you can just seek God and his gifts and then be satisfied with whatever gift you receive,

The gifts are not for our glory, but to build others up!

What is your spiritual gift and how are you using it to build up the body of Christ?

Unworthy Manner

26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. 27 So then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord.28 Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup. (1 Corinthians 11:26-28)

Paul writes that participation in the sacrament of communion is a way of proclaiming to the everyone Jesus died.  This is mainly a ritual in the church so we are reminding ourselves and those close to us that we need to remember that Jesus died on the cross for us!  Not just an average death, but a sacrificial death on a cross.  Not just a loss of life, but a laying down of a life for the good of all who would trust in His death for the hope of eternal life.  Proclaiming His death helps to keep Jesus at the forefront of our minds and hearts.  

Paul writes that there are ways we can participate in communion in an unworthy manner.  We can start out trying to proclaim Christ and end up sinning against Christ.  Paul addresses a few issues the church in Corinth was dealing with that caused their celebration of communion to be unworthy of the sacrament.

1. Disunity - they didn't participate together

2. Partiality - not only were they not unified they were divided between the rich and the poor.  Some had so much they were gluttons and others were starving from lack of food.  

3. Sin that has not been confessed - disunity and partiality are sins that often go without our recognition or confession.  

Paul warns the church that there are consequences for the people of God and the churches who practice communion in an unworthy manner.  Sickness, weakness, death and judgment are all possibilities for those who take communion too lightly.   

Examine your hearts before you enter the amazing celebration and proclamation of communion!  Confess your sins!  Seek unity in the body of Christ and check your partiality.  Then God can bless us with the spiritual food that we need for our journey!