“But eagerly desire the greater gifts. And now I will show you the most excellent way: If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. “ (1 Corinthians 12:31-13: 1-2 )
I was thinking about remembering a movie I watched recently. While the theme does not relate to this topic, one of the things I took away from the movie is that if we love someone, we accept all of that person and not just the parts that are likeable.
In ministry it is important to love the person you are ministering to. Not just like tolerate them or like them because they are easy to like. You need to love that person, all of that person, the good and the bad. You can wish they were not bad, and wish they would repent of their sins, mend their ways, and seek to emulate God. But you cannot dislike them because you think they are sinning. It is not the way God loves. God loved us while we were still sinful. The Lord found/created away for us to be free from sin, if we would so chose that. But even without that, the Lord loves us.
The Confession says, “All who minister are accountable to God and to the community of faith as they serve the church. Christ invites all Christians to minister to each other in the church and on behalf of the church beyond its boundaries.” I believe one of the ways we need to be accountable to God and our faith community is to love them. And if we seek to minister beyond the boundaries of the church, we must love those who are beyond the boundaries of the church. The writer of 1 Corinthians sets a powerful example in front of us. The writer is saying, if I had all the skills of ministry in the world but lacked the skill of love, I would be nothing.
May you gentle reader, as you minister, start with the most basic of all ministerial skills – love! Selah!
