You’re thinking, what else would 13 come after? But the content is interesting; that chapter 12 is all about spiritual gifts. Then along comes 13. All about love.

Love. Agape love. The kind that’s perfect. Just like God.

We’re to be known for our Love. And the love that’s described in Chapter 13 using fifteen specific qualities is the “love” I want to be known for.

1. Inclusive vs Exclusive. The gifts described in Chapter 12 are distributed perfectly among believers so that the Spirit’s work is competed. Not everyone gets every gift. Can you imagine the chaos that would issue?! They are exclusive. But fortunately, God’s Love (and the ability to love God’s way) is inclusive. We’re all given this gift. We just have to hone it and use it (like the spiritual gifts that we also received)!
2. Foundational and Permeating. Our spiritual gifts ride on God’s love. We can’t effectively use the gifts we’ve been given, unless we allow them to ride on Love. Like the perfect flapping of the vocal chords that ride on the perfect amount of air from our lungs; the perfect recipe for the melodic musical notes in a Praise and Worship chorus. But foundational is limiting. Love needs to be permeating through every layer and depth of what we do. Like a solid-surface in the kitchen, it doesn’t matter if there’s imperfection, the content is the same throughout so you don’t quickly notice the flaws. And do we have imperfections!
3. Missional and Visionary. Love reaches out and shapes our mission. Love is the beginning ingredients and the perfect product. God’s love helps us shape our vision if we let it. If we feel like we’ve lost our way, we must return to the definition of God’s love. The 15-quality checklist found in Chapter 13:4-7. Your vision will become clear and your mission will not fail (see verse 8)!

13:13. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

God’s love. We need to get back to the basics!

1 in 4 Americans believe that Christ will return by 2050. And a whopping 58% of evangelicals do.

So what’s your Church doing to educate the general population about the second coming? Especially with the news items of the Mayan Calendar ending in 2012.

Think it’s important? It is for those who have no basis of hope.

Seems like a perfect opportunity for bringing the community into the church or educating the church so they have the answers to share with their neighbors and friends.

They have one thing in common. Before and After pictures!

With my love of renovating homes, I try to take “before” pictures before each project, so I can see the transformation of the “After”. It a way of encouraging myself. I’m all about encouraging!

I just finished transforming a messy storage area in my basement into a media room. You can see from the before and after pictures, that it’s hard to believe that the area is the same square feet. Now that the kids spend time with their friends in our home watching movies and TV, it’s all worth it. In fact, I’m writing this blog while sitting in one of the comfy chairs.

Maybe your Church needs a Before and After transformation.

1. Take an honest look at what you have now. Every time I start a project, it’s because I realize that we need some improvement. Or it maybe that we need some TLC change. Or updating. What is it in your church that needs some work?
2. Set up the “Before Picture”. I try to not change anything before taking the Before picture (which is obvious, above). Sometimes, I want to tidy it up a bit so I don’t have to admit our downfall. In your church, sit down with some of your church leaders, staff or congregation, and “take” an accurate picture of what you don’t like about the ___________. The more descriptive you can be about what you currently have, the better.
3. Dream. This is the fun part. We often sit and discuss what we’d like the space to do. Then we do lots of research imagining what the possibilities are. I’m impressed with what others do. Even with their (often) larger budgets, I always learn from their techniques and goals. Remember, when you brainstorm, there’s no right and wrong. Instead, listen for the “heart” of the requests.
4. Acquire the right Supplies. Once we decide on the direction, I start looking for the materials to do it right — and within our budget. Throughout this process, I realize I can do different things based on accessibility of supplies. So don’t be scared to alter the master plan — just include the “dreamers” in this process so they can realize why you’re changing things. And don’t rush this step! I sometimes take a year to find the right stuff for the right price.
5. Do the Work. I create a “Lowes Department Store” in my workshop as I assemble the right materials and tools. I visit and revisit this “store” to make sure it’s all there. Then we do the work. Bringing in experts as needed. But make sure that the experts have a heart of a teacher so you learn through this process. It’ll save time and money in the future!
6. Take the After Picture. Once you complete the task, celebrate! This is when you pull out the Before’s and compare them with what God allowed you to do. And be encouraged!

So the only thing that stands between the Before and After — is you! And the desire to get things done. It’s that simple. It takes time and effort — but does it ever pay off! God wants to use you. Or someone in the pew who has the gifts.

From the wilderness to worship. In 500 intricate steps.

God gives very specific step-by-step instructions (OK, I didn’t actually count the steps, but wow, there are a lot of them!). And the Israelites didn’t quibble over any of them. At least that I can remember — or that are notated in the Bible.

I can only imagine what we would have done. “but God, I think if we made the tabernacle a bit wider, we could fit more people in.” Or “God, have you considered adding more windows?”

This time reading it, I was struck by the fact that God asked the people to contribute. To be involved.

God could have done it all Himself with a mighty “poof” of His hand. But He wanted the Isrealites to participate in the materials and manufacturing of their house of worship.

I think that often, Pastors and “full-time Leaders in the church” get in the swing of doing almost everything, and they don’t allow the people in the pew to participate.

I know they talk the talk of how they want volunteers, but I wonder how many Pastors allow people of the congregation to share the stage with them on a Sunday. Or do you only allow the congregation to be involved with “back stage” roles?

What’s the Solution?

Think about it. Virtually every educational or edutainment outlet has been broken down into bite-sized pieces. If you watch the morning news shows, you see that our attention span is short. All the stories are less than 3 minutes long. And even most tv shows know that a scene can’t last much longer than a few minutes. Commercials are 30 seconds or a minute. Short, to the point, BAM!

We’ve been primed to take in short bites of information.

So how do those points go together? Consider how long your worship times are in your service, or your preaching times. Then consider using talented people from your congregation to “break up” the times. Solos, testimonials, video clips, Bible reading, dramatic scenes, and the list goes on and on.

What you’d end up with is more “ownership” of the worship time, more interesting services, and the messages would be solidified more in our minds.

All it takes is a little organization and pre-planning. And allowing the congregation to use their gifts. I guess that’s what the Isrealites did. And as their tabernacle came together perfectly, it was worth the effort.

From previous blog entries, you may think I’m a pyromaniac. And with the delight of the blaze licking through our pile of sticks, I think it established in my mind, what the kids have always known. I’m am indeed a pyro.

My two sons and I, with the help of a couple of burn barrels we had 3 huge fires warming the air. Our neighbors even came over to wish us a Merry Christmas. It was fun.

While it was burning, we took turns tending to the embers and flames. But since we were acclimated to the “almost” freezing temperatures, we started doing some raking, sweeping and trimming around the yard.

Then, I noticed our beautiful tree at the end of our driveway — the one that has stunning yellow blooms on it in the spring. I found it odd that it still had green leaves covering it. As I got closer I realized that the leaves on the Forsythia (I think that’s what it’s called) had all fallen.

The waxy leaves that covered the bush, were in fact, a nasty vine.

As we stripped away the winding entanglement, we realized that all the vines came from a couple of stems near the base of the shrub.

Throughout the growing season, we hadn’t realized that this fast growing vine had made its way up through the bush. Because both had green leaves, it covered the bush without us noticing. Until the weather change allowed us to notice it.

Upon closer examination, the vine had almost completely stunted the growth of the beautiful Forsythia.

As I shared with my son who was amazed at this vine too, I think this is exactly what the Bible means when it cautions us about the “sins that so easily entangle us“.

What sins are those in your life? You know, the ones that creep into our lives and look like they’re “good” for awhile, then they entangle our lives and stunt our growth. Spiritually and even physically. They take root and grow larger and larger, until we realize that they’ve taken over our lives and minds.

The same thing has to happen to those sins as we did to the vine. We untwisted and removed every component of them. We even found it easier to cut it off at the root. Then we gladly burned them to destroy even the memory of them. With our sins, God promises to throw our sins away from us — as far as the east is from the west.

Lord, help us spot the vines. Keep them from growing in our lives!