2 John 1:6

And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.

There is so much in the news that paints Christians as unloving.  Obviously, there are people in this world that identify themselves as Christians, and truly believe that they are Christians and are following Christ and living as the Bible teaches, and yet you see them in the media…   photos of “christians” with picket signs with hateful things such as “God hates______”  (fill in the name of a people group).

Why, when we are called to walk in love?  We are called to love the sinner, and deal with the sin?  I would say these people identify themselves as Christian aren’t Spirit-filled or haven’t come to a place of brokenness over their own sin.    We can be kind to all people without saying “Oh, I think your sin is greater than mine”.  And if we are going to talk about sin, especially those identified in the Old Testament, then why aren’t we treating people that suffer from gluttony and loss of self-control the same way?   Or what about that  not so young couple who have been together for 30 years …yet not married? Or that young man that is suffering from PTSD, and has turned to drugs or alcohol to numb the pain?  Are we going to judge them too?

Or what about that person that doesn’t “keep the Sabbath day holy”? Sunday may be the day we go to Church, but the Sabbath is Saturday!  Are we truly practicing all of the verses in the Bible?  While ones are we going to pick and choose?

YOU can see how ridiculous this is..   We are called by Christ to walk in LOVE!  Love is the bottom line. Nothing counts without it. In short, you can’t go anywhere spiritually or in your relationships until you get your love walk straight! No wonder the Bible tells us to: “Eagerly pursue and see to acquire [this] love [make it your aim, your great quest]” (1 Corinthians 14:1).

Ephesians 5:1 says,   … be imitators of God …. ² And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”  

We are to have patience, kindness and humility.  If pride, rudeness, irritation, and resentment are our emotions…we are the ones in the wrong frame of mind.  What’s more important: being “right” or showing God’s love to the other person?  

Walking in love means looking out for the interest of others.  Walking in love means seeing others more significant than ourselves.  Walking in love means taking the form of a humble servant.

Our prayer:

God, put people in our lives who need Your love the most. Allow each one of us individually, and “us” as a Church to be a living testimony of Your love, grace and mercy. May we be the salt of the Earth: patient to the impatient, thankful to the ungrateful, godly to the ungodly and righteous to the unrighteous.

Allow the compassion of God to flow out of us to everyone we come in contact with. We choose today to walk in love! We pray that you remove any guile, hate or ill feelings towards others. We choose to forgive and love every person who’s wronged us.

Father God, we choose this day to be willing and obedient to do what Your Word tells us to do. We pray that we  practice love every day so we can walk in divine health. Thank You, Father, for equipping us with the Godkind of love, and for helping us to walk in love, that the world may know that we are Your children and that Jesus is Our Lord, and that Your love never fails.

Amen.

THIS SUNDAY AT BALBOA UNION CHURCH

Worship Service at 10 a.m. – ALL ARE WELCOME!

SPEAKER: Beth Anne Gray – “A helper who is just right”

Sunday School Teachers: Sherri  Hansraj and Ally McIntosh

Prayers Concerns

Please Pray for Our Brothers and Sisters in Chile

Please pray for those who were affected by the floods in Panama, as well as those who lost their homes due to the danger of landslides recently.

Please Pray for Our Brothers and Sisters from Siria and Iraq

Lord, please remind the world that we are all brothers and sisters and there should be no violence among us, only love and attempts to understand one another.

Up-coming BUC Activities

We are currently working on sprucing up Building 773 – the basement, apartment C and other common areas.  We would be happy to have any volunteers that can assist with this, and any donations towards this work would always be appreciated.

Council meeting- Saturday-October 17th 1:00 pmBUC
Office. This will be a meeting of Missions, Property &Management, Christian Education, Worship & Ministry, Membership committee chairs and other council members.  But all members of the congregation may sit in on the meetings and deliberations. If you have any issues you would like the council to consider, these should be present to the Council Secretary before the meeting, so that they can be included in the agenda.

Visit to Fundacion Nueva Vida in Howard-October 18th (3rd Sunday of the month) we will be vising the Fundación Nueva Vida home in Howard – please join us immediately after the service to go on this visit.

Missions AAAm Program-All BUC Membrs and Friends are invited to Participate in our next month AAAM Program on Tuesday  October 20th, 2:30 pm

In  BUC Missions we are Collaborating with “Good Deeds ” Program: