Loving Your Brother

1^st Corinthians 15:58 says, “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.”

Depending on what part of Paul’s letter you read, you can either see the entire book as Paul correcting and reproaching the Corinthians, or you can see it as Paul loving and encouraging the Corinthians. I submit to you that the entire book is about love. This passage above is what the whole book is based on; being steadfast in the faith and always abounding in the work of the Lord. Yes, this comes by a lot of conviction and the realization of sin but it’s all purposed for giving God all the glory and living the best life.

This book has really been relating with me recently since I have been dealing with the situation of my friends choosing the wrong things to do. As a group, we are basically living in sin and not caring. God has recently called my heart to a higher goal, not saying that goal was never before on my heart but now there is more of a push. However, the question has come up; What about the other guys? How do I get them on board?

Paul is dealing with the same issues in this book. He realizes that the Corinthians are not chasing after God and his goal is to change that. There are a lot of different opinions on how to reproach a brother or call a sister out of sin, but Paul’s way seems pretty good. The truth is he does it in absolute and complete love. He reminds them over and over again that he loves them. He reproaches them but also encourages them to do the right thing and live in a way that gives glory to God.

We are called to love God and then others. There is something about just chasing after the singular idea of loving someone rather then trying to pick a specific aspect of love to work on. I mean the strategy of a tightrope walker. He doesn’t try to figure out what specific thing he needs to work on, like which foot to push the rope with or how hard to push or which part of his foot he needs to step on the rope with. He focuses on doing whatever it takes to get to the other side; the finish line. This is also true in our walk with Christ. We shouldn’t focus on trying to read our Bible more, praying more, and going to church more. Instead, we should solely focus on how we can love God the most. Out of this focus will come reading our Bible more and praying more, but if we specific our goals, they become our idols.

The same is also true with loving our friends. We strive to love them and we do whatever it takes to get to that point, even if it means spending time with them or helping them in times of need. The time may come, like it did for Paul, where you need to correct their lives and show them the love of the Gospel and how to live in such a way as to glorify God, but when this time comes up, do it as to encourage and to build up. As for me, when I find myself just trying to love my guys, it seems to be more effective than solely trying to change them.

Last of all, for you. Be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord – Forsake All