Called to Love
So faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
I Corinthians 13:13
Unique and Necessary
I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all lowliness and meekness, with patience, forbearing one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call, one Lord, one faith, on baptism, one God and Father of us all, who is above all and through all and in all. But grace was given to each of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore it is said, “When He ascended on high He led a host of captives, and He gave gifts to men.” (In saying “He ascended,” what does it mean but that He had also descended into the power parts of the earth? He who descended is He who also ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.) And His gifts were that some should be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature and of the fulness of Christ; so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the cunning of men, by their craftiness in deceitful wiles. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into Him who is the head, unto Christ, from Whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every joint with which it is supplied, when each part is working properly, makes bodily growth and upbuilds itself in love.
Ephesians 4:1-16
Good morning Prayer Team!
Today begins a new unit on called to love. We will be in and out of this for the next several weeks, putting in the customary weekend reflections on Sunday Epistles and Gospels, the weekday feastdays, and a few special reflection as America approaches her 250th birthday.
The word “love” is perhaps the most significant concept in the world. God created us out of love, God sent Jesus Christ into the world out of love. Gods’ two great commandments to us are to love God and love our neighbor. Sin is the absence of love. The Bible is God’s love letter to us. We cannot understand God without an understanding of love. We are created to love. And since life is about starting and restarting, love is always a good place from which to start. If we want to understand God, we must understand love. If we want to understand how we are to honor God in our lives, we must understand love. Because God calls us to love, and we honor God by the demonstrate love.
We could begin this study from any number of verses. We will begin with Ephesians 4:1-16. St. Paul, in the very two verses, begs us to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you (we) have been called, with all lowliness and meekness, with patience, forbearing one another in love. (Ephesians 4:1-2) We are called to love. We are to lead a life worthy of that calling.
Each of us will live out that calling in a different way. St. Paul write that some will be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers. (Ephesians 4:11) By extension, there are other gifts—some will be writers, teachers, parents, architects—there are a myriad of gifts, a unique set for each unique person. What is not unique, indeed, what is common to each person, is that we each are gifted with some unique way to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ. (1:12) In other words, whether we are a priest or not, whether we work full-time for the Church or not, each of us has been given some unique tools for building up the body of Christ, the Church. Each of us will have our own unique opportunities to spread the Gospel. The challenge for each, then, is to understand this call and to recognize the opportunities to answer it.
God’s intention in sending Jesus Christ into the world, in establishing the Church, and in calling us to a unique roll in the Church, is for us to all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ. (1:13) It is not enough for us to love God. It is not even enough for us to love other people, in the sense of serving them. Part of the way we show love for our fellow man is to care for His salvation, to care that our neighbor has knowledge of the Son of God and is working his way toward mature manhood.
Each of us began life with no knowledge at all. We came out of our mother’s womb having complete dependence on our parents. As we grow up, at some point, hopefully we are no longer children, we are no longer dependent on our parish, but mature and independent adults. Each of us comes out of the womb knowing nothing about God. It is incumbent on parents to teach children about the Lord, but it is also incumbent on children to seek after God on their own. So that we all reach an age of spiritual maturity whether we are encouraged to grow in faith, and where we see faith through the lens of our present lives, not just through the lens of Sunday school classes done as children.
One skill that all of us can improve upon is speaking the truth in love. (1:15) This might be corrective life truths, and also includes the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It means not watering down truth or altering truth to fit our thoughts. When we do this, we are able to grow up in every way into Him who is the head, into Christ. (1:16). When we do this, the whole body (the whole world) is joined and knit together by every joint with which it is supplied, when each part is working properly. (1:16) This allows the body to grow and build itself up with love.
A large part of what is wrong with the world today is an absence of love—of respect, empathy, sacrifice, modesty and so many other things. We are not knit together as God intended, which is why the body (the entirety of the world) does not work together properly. Even small parts of the body—countries, cities, and even the small unit, the family—are not working correctly. And the way to fix that is with love—understanding what love means, how to love and serve others, which begins with understanding how to love and serve God.
We can’t do any of these things without love for God and love for our neighbor. The starting point then is answering the question of “Who is God?” so that we can love Him and learn to understand what He means when He tells us we are to love one another.
Lord, Who are You, that I may know You better? Who are You, that I may serve You more completely? What is love, that I may offer it more generously? Lord, help me to know You better, serve You more completely, and love You and others more generously. Open my mind and my heart, so that I may learn what it means to love. Kindle in me a desire to serve You and others. Amen.
Each of us has a unique role to play in the body of Christ, the world and the Church. Just like every part of the human body is necessary for the body to operate optimally, so every part of the Body of Christ (all of us) are necessary in order for the Church to operate and grow in the most optimal way.
