Pittsburgh District Church of the Nazarene

Light Thoughts 8                                                                                                     May 11, 2012

1 John 4:7-21

Read over the passage several times to get a sense of what John is trying to say.  Read it slowly, and again and again.  Notice the recurring theme.

The word love is one of the most over used words in our vocabulary.  "I love this…" or 'I love that…" are phrases that seem to cloud the air.  We "love" everything so much that we really do not know what love is.  Typically, when a person says they love something, it is all about their pleasure.  It is a selfish love.  When we look at love in the Bible, especially when it comes to God's love for us, it is not selfish.

When John says, "let us love one another," he is talking about "prizing or highly regarding others."  He is talking about a love that puts your wishes aside and cares about someone else with the love of God.  For this kind of love comes from God.

Understand that John is talking about how Christians should treat other Christians.  If the Christians who attend your church would love the other Christians, when those who do not know Christ come to the church, they will sense something the world knows nothing about.  If you cannot love this way, according to 1 John 4:8, you do not know God.  That seems hard, but maybe it is time to speak the hard truths, in love.

Another interesting aspect is that John does not distinguish between pastor and people.  Pastors, you must love the people.  I know some of them are hard to love, but it is not a request from God, it is a requirement.  Lay people, you have to love your pastor.  It is not a request it is a requirement. Pastors, just think what would happen if you prized or highly regarded the people God has called you to lead.  How do you think they would respond? Lay people what about you?  How do you think your pastor would respond if you all regarded him or her highly, or even prized them?

If you love God, you must love each other.

PRIMETIME TRIP TO SIGHT & SOUND ----"JONAH"

We've had a good response to our planned Primetime overnight bus trip on Oct. 26-27 to Lancaster.  We received some good news from the travel agency a few days ago this past week that really set our minds at ease.  While we have exactly one bus filled to capacity at 56, we now have another bus reserved for our use. As such, we are able to continue on beyond our announced May 1 deadline, but when that 2nd bus is full, registration will have to be closed regardless of any future 'deadline.'  We know of a number of others yet planning to register, so we are expecting to be able to have that 2nd bus load with little problem.

If you are planning to go to see "Jonah," please get your registrations and deposit to us ASAP. (If everyone who had initially responded had registered, both buses would be already full.)  We are looking forward to a great time of blessing and fellowship together come this fall.  If this is your first time at Sight & Sound, "Jonah" will likely exceed your expectations!  Please don't hesitate to call or email us with any concern about scheduling or registering, or for a registration form if you have not yet seen one.