BYM ONLINE DESK Blessing English Emagazine March 2020 | Page 8

with ourselves. Of all the lies we tell, the ones we
tell ourselves are the most deadly.
3. Love:“…that you, being rooted and
grounded in love, may have power, together with
all the Lord's holy people, to grasp how wide and
long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to
know this love that surpasses knowledge that
you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness
of God” (Eph 3 :17-19).
that is different and divine in me? Does the world
know I am a disciple of Christ by the way I love?”
Strive to get a 'yes' answer. “Do ordinary things
with extraordinary love,” said Mother Teresa. Let
us make it our lifestyle.
4. A Christ-centered life: “So then, just as
you received Christ as Lord, continue to live your
lives in Him, rooted and built up in Him” (Col 2:6).
We will focus only on three things here.
a) Living our lives in Him. We received Christ
Jesus as the Lord of our lives. The story does not
end there. We must continue to live our lives in
Him. He must be our everything. He must own us
completely. He must be our Master. “For to me to
live is Christ and to die is gain,” said Paul (Phil
1:21). We must have no other passion in life being
totally sold out for Him. He wants us either all or
none. Behave like His gloves, totally pliable to
Him.
In other words, unless we learn to go out of
the way to love people, especially the unlovables,
we will neither be able to understand the
dimensions of the love of Christ nor be filled with
the fullness of God. This kind of rooting and
grounding in effusive love is very much lacking
today. That's why Christians have become the
laughing stock of the world. The lack of love
among Christians is ubiquitous and obvious.
That's why Jesus said, “A new commandment I
give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so
you must love one another. By this everyone will
know that you are My disciples, if you love one
another” (Jn 13 : 34,35). This has a message for
us. Unless we love one another the way Jesus
loved us when we were dirty sinners, we will not
be able to understand the four dimensional love
of Christ which is, “Wide, wide as the ocean, high
as the heavens above, deep deep as the deepest
sea.” Let us fall prostrate at God's feet and weep
and beg that He may fill us with His love with
which we may love our family, friends,
neighbours, coworkers, others and enemies. We
are a bad testimony to the world in the love
aspect. Ask yourself, “Does the world see a love
b) Rooted in Him. The deeper the root goes
the harder it will be to pull out the plant. It is
“taking root” as Isaiah puts it (37:31). You have
seen roots holding on to rocks. That's how Paul
was rooted in Christ and could say, “Who shall
separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble
or hardship or persecution or famine or
nakedness or danger or sword?” (Rom 8:35). Can
we say that?
c) Built up in Him. This speaks about
fellowship. Christianity is not a loner's religion.
We are “fellow citizens with the saints and
members of the household of God, having been
built on the foundation of the apostles and
prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief
corner stone, in whom the whole building being
fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the
Lord…”(Eph 2:19, 21). We must live in close
fellowship with other saints of God. Start with
family brother, sister, father, mother, husband,
wife, in-laws, aunts, cousins… in the Church,
neighbours. Only then we can be a holy temple.
Or else we will be a dilapidated shed.
5. Sweet root: “See to it that no bitter root
grows up to cause trouble and defile many” (Heb
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