Living Our Christianity Out-Loud -- "One Another Living"

Yesterday on FB, I saw this first photo of two family members with opposing opinions about who our next Texas Senator should be. The caption read: "This Longhorn fan prefers Ted Cruz. This Aggie fan prefers Beto. We may not agree on political candidates, but we definitely agree that relationships matter more than politics. Our families play games together, break bread together, drink wine together, float rivers together, and love a great party with other friends and neighbors. We treat each other with respect, disagree agreeably (and often with humor), and try, although not always successfully, to show our kids how responsible adults who don’t agree on everything should act. Be civil. Have conversations with people who don’t think like you. If everyone thought the same it would be boring anyway. And love your neighbor.”

I loved those sentiments enough to pass the message on. Remember the battle cry of the Three Musketeers? "All for one and one for all"! That sounds like a lofty goal, especially in light of the many different, opposing groups of people. If ever Christians needed to become "All for One and One for All", it's today. What does that mean? It means that our lives should become so "Light" bearing, that it is completely obvious who the Christians are. People need to see Christians who manifest the character of Christ, speaking the truth in love with courage and compassion. The more bitter others are, the more persuasive OUR witness will be. Right now is a great opportunity for Christianity. If we actually lived our faith and actually lived Christianity it would be extremely attractive to people. It differentiates Christianity from all that’s going on in the world.

In Galatians 5:14, Paul wrote, "For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” I think what Paul is talking about is the kind of love of neighbor that the Musketeers had for each another. We can learn from their unity and loyalty. As followers of Jesus Christ, not only do we strive to serve, protect, and love God, but we are also called to serve, protect and love each other.

Today, I'm thinking of ways that we can join our hands and hearts together to be a part of something greater than "my four and no more" -- greater than "What's in it for me?" What if we began to pray and humble ourselves to become God's servants who live a life of ONE ANOTHER LIVING? "What can I do for you? What can I do for the cause? What can I do for the team? What can I do for others that helps them to win?" Let’s live our faith. Let’s let people know we are Christians – not by screaming it out off the rooftops. If we know anything about this culture, they’re screaming at Christians “Don’t tell me. Show me." Let’s live our Christianity and teach others how to do the same!”

All for One -- One for All: "One Another Living"

Maybe we should take the battle cry of the Three Musketeers and make it our motto. "All for one and one for all"! That sounds like a lofty goal, especially in the light of how many different, opposing groups of people love or hate each other. So much bitterness and contentious words and remarks are heard daily --and not just in politics and talk shows, but in our schools, churches, homes and neighborhoods.

If ever Christians needed to become "All for One and One for All", it's today. What does that mean? It means that our lives should become so "light" bearing, that it is completely obvious who the Christians are. People need to see Christians who manifest the character of Christ, speaking the truth in love with courage and compassion. I love Rick Warren's statement "God teaches us to love by putting some unlovely people around us. It takes no character to love people who are lovely and loving to you." The more bitter others are, the more persuasive OUR witness will be.

No pun intended, but LOVE trumps everything! It trumps gender and ethnic diversity. It trumps cultural differences. It trumps religious preferences. It even trumps political affiliations. We’ve gotten so consumed with being right that we’ve forgotten about being IN LOVE. That’s right! We are supposed to be in love with each other. God's love.....Christ’s love trumps all! ALL!

Back to "All for One -- One for All". In Galatians 5:14, Paul wrote, "For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” I think what Paul is talking about here is the kind of love of neighbor that the Musketeers had for each another. We can learn from their unity and loyalty. As followers of Jesus Christ, not only do we strive to serve, protect, and love God, but we are ALSO called to serve, protect and love each other.

Today, I'm thinking of ways that we can join our hands and hearts together to be a part of something greater than "my four and no more" -- greater than "What's in it for me?" What if we began to pray and humble ourselves to become God's servants who live a life of ONE ANOTHER LIVING? "What can I do for you? What can i do for the cause? What can I do for the team? What can I do for others that helps them to win?"

We're ALL on the same team -- we're God's kids, and we represent our Father Who WILL WIN, and win BIG TIME. Everyone will know us by being on the LIGHT side by our love for one another. All for ONE -- ONE for all.

All for One -- One for ALL -- "One Another Living"

Maybe we should take the battle cry of the Three Musketeers and make it our motto. That sounds like a lofty goal, especially in the light of all this presidential campaign rhetoric, bitter and contentious words and remarks from both candidates and parties.

If ever Christians needed to become "All for One and One for All", it's today. What does that mean? It means that our lives should become so "light" bearing, that it is so obvious who the Christians are. People need to see Christains who manifest the character of Christ, speaking the truth in love with courage and compassion. I love Rick Warren's statement "God teaches us to love by putting some unlovely people around us. It takes no character to love people who are lovely and loving to you." The more bitter our nation's politics are, the more persuasive OUR witness will be.

No pun intended, but LOVE trumps everything! It trumps gender and ethnic diversity. It trumps cultural differences. It trumps religious preferences. It even trumps political affiliations.

We’ve gotten so consumed with being right that we’ve forgotten about being IN LOVE. That’s right! We are supposed to be in love with each other.

God's love.....Christ’s love trumps all! ALL! I know it’s not polite to yell (all caps), but we’ve got to get this right and soon.

Back to "All for One -- One for All". In Galatians 5:14, Paul wrote, "For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” I think what Paul is talking about here is the kind of love of neighbor that the Musketeers had for each another. We can learn from their unity and loyalty. As followers of Jesus Christ, not only do we strive to serve, protect, and love God, but we are ALSO called to serve, protect and love each other.

Today, I'm thinking of ways that we can join our hands and hearts together to be a part of something greater than my 4 and no more -- greater than "What's in it for me?" What if we began to pray and humble ourselves to become servants that live a life of ONE ANOTHER LIVING? "What can i do for you? What can i do for the cause? What can i do for the team? What can i do for others that helps them to win?" We're ALL on the same team -- we're God's kids, and we represent our Father Who WILL WIN and win BIG TIME (yes, I'm yelling again) in spite of who this nation's next president will be! Everyone will know us by being on the LIGHT side by our love for one another. All for ONE -- ONE for all.