Tell Me the Stories..."

I was fortunate to have been raised in a Christian home, and attended Sunday school and church regularly. I even sang in the “Cherub” Choir! One of the songs I recall learning was “Tell Me the Stories of Jesus.” As I grew older and learned more about the stories in the Bible, the more fascinated I became about how God works in the lives of people and how their lives were transformed by faith in God.

Today when I lead workshops with church pastors, I will often ask, “With what biblical story, or character do you most identify?” The answers are as varied as is the uniqueness of each participant.

Karen Massey suggests that we read stories (told through biographies/autobiographies, and the Bible) not only for the information we can glean from them, but also what we can learn about ourselves. Many of the stories, she suggests, teach us about ourselves and are both an indictment and a challenge. The stories of Jesus certainly do that. They reveal a lifestyle of how to live in obedience to God’s will and challenge us to application in our lives. God works in wonderful ways through God’s stories when we apply the concepts to our life situation, then continue to tell the stories so that others might hear and come to know of God’s transforming power.

Genuine Love

The Apostle Paul wrote these words to the church at Rome, “Let love be genuine… ” (Romans 12:9) What do you think he meant by “genuine love?” We can begin to answer that question by looking at the meaning of love as defined by Jesus.

When Jesus spoke of love, the word he used was agape, one of the Greek words for love. This kind of love is best understood as self-giving actions toward another, not expecting anything in return. “Love” in the Christian’s vocabulary is about much more than how we feel toward someone. It is more properly understood as a verb, a word of action -- what we do in relationship to others. As Christians, to love someone means to express actions of compassion, caring, encouragement and support, especially in times of their greatest need.

New Testament scriptures are filled with stories of Jesus’ caring compassion, and concern toward others. He expressed the challenge to his first disciples and all who would be his disciples today in these words: “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.” (John 13: 34-35) Faithful discipleship involves responding to this “new commandment” and living and loving like Jesus did.