The lessons for the week are Psalm 148.7-14, Acts 17.22-31, I Peter 3.1-8 and John 15.1-8. Peter challenges the Christians to whom he writes "have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing." The sad reality is that on many times in my adult life I have seen a complete lack of charity in the church. I've experienced it as a layman bystander watching clergy get attacked, I've experienced it as a clergy person with people in the church and I've seen it between clergy people. If you want to know the biggest problem in the church (at least in America) it is the way we treat one another in public but far more often in private. Why would anyone want to be a part of such an unhealthy community? We don't love one another. The second huge problem we have is that we don't even pay enough attention to John 3.16 to realize that God loves the world. We don't. We love those parts of the world that appeal to us but that very means the people of the world, those created in His image. We don't bless each other and we certainly don't bless "the world" in the biblical sense. And we expect to grow? There's one word for the church. Repent of those attitudes. Then, really abide in Him and allow Him to abide in you to have the mind and heart of Christ who prayed for those reviling Him, cursing Him and crucifying Him.
