From Love to Joy

Hello, my fellow Saints!

I have heard from some of you this week on your thoughts of love. They include things like: Love is God. He gives it to us and all we need to do is keep love warm. Love is understanding a person's reason for doing something, even if their action is wrong. Love is loving them even when they don't/won't love you. Love is listening with your whole mind and not half your mind.

Here are some things I saw/thought about love this week:
In I John 3:18 Christians are asked to love "not in word or speech, but in truth and action." I believe that we as Christians are to live our faith. We are to do more than just talk about love, but to we are to live it as Jesus taught us to. He said to "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength," and "Love your neighbor as yourself." (Mark 12:30-31)

How to live as Christian love in action? The UMVIM (United Methodist Volunteers in Mission) Team Leader book I'm reading says "We are taught to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, give shelter to the homeless, heal the sick, care for the widow, and nurture the children. We are told that Jesus came in order that we might be able to tear down dividing walls of hostility and to build bridges of understanding. We are called, wherever we are in the world, to love all of God's creation, and to demonstrate that love in action."

An example this week of nurturing the children was the love of 9 shivering people shouting encouragement to the Mart Panthers soccer team in freezing weather! These boys are from the Mart Texas Youth Commission, a maximum security jail for boys 10-18 years old. A group of us from our church have begun working with the jail ministry there and have become quite fond of these boys! In love enough, in fact, to freeze while they ran around in shorts! These boys need love. They need people believing in them. They need examples of Christian love in action.

"As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete." (John 15:9-12).

And so we move from a week of love to a week of joy!