Monday, March 05, 2007

Sunday Sermon

One of the hard parts in moving is finding a new home church. We tried several here before making a choice, and I honestly believe God put us in the church we chose for a reason. I have never walked out of there without feeling like our pastor was speaking directly to me.

The past month we were covering a series titled "Marriage by Design". Talk about a wonderful series. Then the pastor decided to do a 2-part series on "Singleness". To be honest, I begged Matt to blow off church today to stay in bed because how could we get anything out of a service about being single. After all, we haven't been single for 13 years. I didn't win that argument and off to church we went.

I am so glad we went. Because once again, I felt spoken to.

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, 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." 1 Corinthians 13: 4 - 8

How many people had that read at their wedding? I know we did. I think it is the verse that people many times choose because it seems "romantic". But not only can it be applied to a marriage, but to oneself as well.

To have a loving relationship with others and with God, you must focus on becoming the right person. Are you patient? Are you kind? Do you envy? Do you boast? Are you proud? Are you rude? Are you self-seeking? Are you easily angered? Do you keep record of wrongs? Do you delight in evil? Do you protect? Trust? Hope? Persevere in loving others?

So what kind of "lover" are you? Are these never like you? Sometimes like you? Always like you? What areas do you think you need to find improvement? Rate yourself, and then ask someone you trust to rate you in these areas. I guarantee you will be surprised. I know I was.

3 comments:

BecsLifeOnline said...

Wow what a great post :-) Yeah it seems that God is really prompting us to guard our relationships doesn't it? I think it's so exciting that you're over there in the U.S and I'm here in the U.K and our God is sharing the same stuff with us both haha. Awesomeness! I love your blog. I'm adding it to my favourites if you don't mind :-) x

Unknown said...

I'm here for the party and was reading a few of your posts. I agree that finding a new church home is always the hardest part of moving. We're in the middle of that right now. I enjoyed the reminder to be introspective about the qualities mentioned in the "Love Chapter."

mama2dibs said...

Isn't God amazing? As long as we just follow where he leads (even if it seems crazy) he provides! We just moved as well and I had actually put the nix on the church we ended up going to. My husband said he liked it though, so we stayed...I'm so glad we did! I hate to miss a Sunday! You are right...I always walk away saying, "Wow! He had to have been talking to me!" What an awesome God we serve!