Faith and Love

Eph 1: 15,16 "Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers:"

 

I grab two things here: The church at Ephesis and Paul. What that church was like and what Paul did.

 

What was the church at Ephesis like? They were people of faith and love. They had faith. Now this was not just the faith that saved them, this was something more. It was a conviction of truth in who Christ was. I am thinking that it was the ability to speak intelligently and forcefully into the lives of people. I am thinking that it was the strong conviction that Jesus came, lived, died, rose from the dead, ascended into heaven and was interceding for them. Now I don't know this for sure, but I think it was more than just: "Yes, I put my faith in Christ". It was the ability to defend the truth of the Gospel. And they were faithful. This word for faith also means faithful…steadfast…consistent. They were not up here and down there. They were not dependent on emotional experiences to sustain them. They were steady. They endured. They were reliable.

 

They were also people of love. This was not a superficial love. This was not just a warm fuzzy. It was agape love. It was an in spite of love. It was a sacrificial love. It was an unconditional love. No matter what, no matter the situation, these people loved all who were saints. This church loved everyone who had put their faith in Christ. It didn't matter whether they were Jew or Gentile. It didn't matter whether they were slave or free. It didn't matter whether they were male or female. They loved them all.

 

No wonder Paul said that he did not cease to give thanks for them. No wonder he prayed for them. This was a special group of people who consistently lived what they believed. It would seem that any leader would be thankful for people like this, those who practiced and shared their faith with confidence and loved others with the love of Christ. Yet he continued to pray for them. And what he prayed is dynamite. (That is in the coming verses.)

 

Now I wonder about us. I wonder about the church in the 21^st Century. I wonder about the church in the United States. I wonder about the churches in Lake County. I wonder about Lake Ridge. Can someone say about us that we have a strong, unyielding, consistent, open faith in Christ? Can others see our sacrificial, unconditional, persistent love for believers? "By this all men will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another." Can they? I think that if they did, we would not see our society going down the sewer.

 

And then I wonder about me? What about me…do these two qualities characterize my life? A strong, defensible, faithful faith in Jesus, and an evident love for others?

 

I know this: I have a long way to go. We all do.