COLUMN: Simply the Best
Skye Pournazari
Pastor Laura Rand Maryville Church of Nazarene
Sometimes the simplest verses in scripture are the most powerful. For example, 1 Corinthians 14:1a says, “Pursue Love.” We often make following Christ difficult. But Paul says it simply, “Pursue Love.”
Jesus died on the cross for you. Why? Simply because he loves you. He sees all that he has created for you to be and to live out. He doesn’t point his finger and yell, “try harder at being better!” But through the cross, he paid the debt of our sins so that we may be forgiven and reconciled with him. He created each of us to be in relationship with him! Our sin divided us from God, but he reconciles us to himself through the blood of Jesus. Why? Simply because he loves us!
He invites us to receive his love, to live out our new identity, and to see ourselves through his eyes, as his precious son or daughter. It is not rocket science. It is simply being loved by the King of Kings. Simple, right?
But then he invites us, with his overflowing love, to simply love others. This is hard as we often stand in judgment of their lives and their opinions. But what if we simply loved one another, our family and our enemies, as Christ first loved us? What if we were patient with one another, what if we listened quietly to others before yelling our thoughts, or what if we turned the other cheek when someone struck us? What if we simply put aside our difference and saw value in one another? Would our families, community and nation look different? What if we simply pursued the love of God and simply loved others as Christ first loved us, by laying our lives down for one another as Jesus did?
We live in a time when we are encouraged to be offended at and divided from those with differing opinions and thoughts. But simply put, we are invited to sit at the feet of Jesus, being loved by him and simply loving others as Jesus first loved us. Truly, in a divided and angry world, let us usher healing and unity in by simply loving God and one another.
