Love, and the Traveling Pants ~ 1 Thessalonians 4.9-10

Love, and the Traveling Pants
9Now about brotherly love we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other. 10And in fact, you do love all the brothers throughout Macedonia. Yet we urge you, brothers, to do so more and more. 1 Thessalonians 4.9-10

Good Morning.

There are so many ideas about love, aren’t there? The Greek word for love Paul uses here speaks of brotherly love, of kinship. It appears that the Thessalonians had been doing pretty well with that because word had gotten out . . . imagine—a reputation for being a loving people! If your church is thought of as a loving church—it is because the members practice loving each other well, and also reach out and serve the local community. I don’t think Christians are viewed as loving without both of these—too many times, believers run in incestuous circles and neglect reaching out to those around them. Big mistake.

Allow me to segue. . . (yes, I like both the word and the concept) Last year, in September, I started an incubator ministry. Incubator? Yes, we were a small group of women who came together to meet weekly for the purpose of growing in faith, friendship, and authentic community. In advance, I prayed that God would give me a specific vision--a mission that would honor Him, accomplish His purposes, and build people in the faith. By way of illustration--I have enjoyed The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants books. I like the love the four girls in the story have for one another—the commitment they have to maintaining their friendship—and the loyalty that involves. So, the first week with my ‘incubatees,’ I cast the vision for a sisterhood that would love like that. . . with loyalty, commitment, and authenticity, with the common goal of growing toward Christ.

Today, I would like to report on that group—fourteen months later. As of right now, we average about 25 women a week, and we have established a sisterhood. . . the project worked! The former incubatees are no longer in the incubator, though our little world is almost as safe and warm. God has grown us in love for one another, as we have studied together, prayed for one another, laughed and cried with each other, and generally ‘done life’ together. Oh, we aren’t all alike, mind you—different ages, personalities, vocations, and seasons of life. . . but the experiment worked! God has melded us together in love, and looking outward--we have begun serving those nearby, and inviting others ‘in’ to our sisterhood.

As I read Paul’s charge to the Thessalonians to love still more and more, I am reminded that means we ought love one another deeper—when the going is really tough, when serving another is the best right thing to do—and then together, look around and see where and who we need to serve around us. When we love well, we have a strong sense of loyalty toward one another. I love this thought on loyalty: Loyalty means not that I am you, or that I agree with everything you say or that I believe you are always right. Loyalty means that I share a common ideal with you and that regardless of minor differences we fight for it, shoulder to shoulder, confident in one another’s good faith, trust, constancy, and affection."✭ Loyalty, in short, means that ‘I am for you’—oh, and ‘next week, I will still be for you.’

It is no surprise that Paul would pen the following words to the Philippian church, kind of an expansion on loving more and more: …fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. ❊ Friend, it is my earnest prayer for you that you would be in a small community that embodies such God-breathed ambitions.

“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.”♥ Lord, please teach us to love, and love well.
Amen.

Go—love in word and deed,
Christine


✭from American psychologist Karl Menninger, quoted in Warren Wiersbe’s book, On Being a Servant of God. Reading Wiersbe’s book is like sitting down with him for short chats on what he has gleaned from serving God as a minister and fellow Christian traveler over decades. I am two-thirds through it, and am drinking up each chat, taken by Wiersbe’s wisdom, practical thinking and warmth. I highly recommend it…published by Baker Books.
❊Philippians 2.2-4
♥1 John 4.7