Cool to be Selfish With? - Thursday September 02, 2010
May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you. 1 Thessalonians 3:12 NIV
Two people, filled with God's love, pour out that love on one another-that is amazing! That's what creates fellowship, koinonia, the community of love in the church.
Let's look at how often the apostles echoed our Lord's exhortation to love one another: "Love one another deeply from the heart"-that's from Peter in his letter to the saints scattered outside Israel (1 Peter 1:22 NIV); "love each other deeply"-that's Peter again, same letter (4:8 NIV), but this time he says "Above all"-top priority; "We should love one another"-that's from the apostle John, written in his old age (1 John 3:11); "This is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us" (1 John 3:23); "Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God" (1 John 4:7 NIV); "...I ask that we love one another" (2 John 1:5 NIV).
Do you get the picture? This command was very important to the apostles. The command to love one another is the center of koinonia-that's where it springs from.
Do you know there are 54 "one another" verses in the Bible? How we treat one another is koinonia in action.
Koinonia and the party scene are really different. The party scene is a place where we agree we can be selfish together. Your value to me at a party is how cool you are to be selfish with. It's all about me, and what you can do for my entertainment. Koinonia is about how I can love you with God's love for your best interests in His kingdom.
Submitted by:
John Meyer
Faithwalkers West 2009
Being Christ to One Another Changes Lives,
One-Year Reading Plan:
Ecclesiastes 1:1-3:22
2 Corinthians 6:1-13
Psalms 46:1-11
Proverbs 22:15
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