말보다 말씀! 빚보다 빛!

5/23

Good Saturday to our Woori Youth! I have a new work schedule and am losing track of the days of the week. I almost forgot that today is Saturday! I hope that you all have been healthy and still abiding by the social distancing rules. I feel that this is the make it or break time. Please continue the vigilance, otherwise, it might come back to bite us by spreading again. This week’s sermon is about 

1 Corinthians 13:12-13. Please read these verses today in preparation for our worship of the One, who makes the impossible, possible, the dream, a reality, and most importantly, death into everlasting life! Hoping to see all of you very soon!

Something I heard on the radio this week, on FM radio 101.1 :

God used suffering and evil to accomplish His good will of love for us. Let me explain. Jesus suffered through the evil that was in the world to achieve His purpose as the lamb that washed away the sins of the world. He used the suffering that He endured along with the evil of man to once and for all, be that final sacrifice to save our soul. Why?? You all know the answer! Because He LOVES us! Saint Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 13:13:

So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

It all starts with love. God’s love for us is why Jesus suffered the most horrendous and humiliating death on a cross. We must learn to love God before we can truly love others. God teaches us how to love through His teachings. You all have heard about agape love? Love without expecting a return. Unconditional love. Agape love is how God loves us! Even when we sin and push Him away, God is always waiting for us to come back to Him. Does He punish us? Some people think He does, but my God is not an angry, vengeful god! He is the definition of agape love. He loves me no matter what! That is why we must love each other unconditionally, without prejudice, with agape love. When we start loving each other for who we are, we are fulfilling a command given by Jesus. In the Gospel of John 13:34;

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.

When we love each other unconditionally, we do not see their faults or their shortcomings, but we begin to see their potential as a perfect creation of God. 

1 Corinthians 13:4-7

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful, it does not rejoice at wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.

Read these verses again, but substitute God for “love” and “it”. 

This is how great our God is! 

Have a great upcoming week and don’t forget to love each other as God has loved you and me. See you soon at Papa’s House!

David Kim