It could start with fatigue, fever, weakness, distraction, depression. You don’t really know what exactly the problem is, but you just know that something’s not working right inside. Chaos occurs when your body decides to attack itself in an autoimmune disorder. Your body parts aren’t acting in unity.
What if you could actually see it happening? Let’s say your arm was mad at your foot for not saying, “Hi” in the hallway, or your liver decided to quit simply because it was jealous of the mouth? While it may seem ridiculous to imagine, this sad scenario occurs every week in churches all over the world. The Church – the body of Christ, formed to demonstrate the love and forgiveness of Jesus, turns on itself out of selfishness and pride. It shouldn’t be this way. In one of the most beloved passages in the Bible, Paul writes…
“Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.” (from First Corinthians, chapter 13)
The whole chapter is dedicated to promoting love as the ultimate spiritual fruit. Do you understand great mysteries? Great, but do you love? Are you able to speak with tongues of angels? Awesome, but do you love? You see, no matter what gift we are given, if we are not acting in love towards one another, we are nothing more than religious noise. Instead of useless noise, let’s sing out a sweet song of forgiveness and love. That is a tune sure to change the world.
Life Lesson: No matter how gifted we are or what our giftings are, if we don’t have love, we are just religious noise.
Autoimmune disorders in our physical bodies are temporary. Real love for one another is forever.
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David McGee is the founder of Cross The Bridge Ministries as well as a pastor, teacher and author. He may be contacted using the form here.
Just over a year ago, terrorism struck at the 117th Boston Marathon. Before it was over, 4 innocent people were dead and over 250 others were wounded.