For Love

The last word of Pastor Paul's letter to his old parish in Ephesus is 'love'.  Incorruptible, undying love.  Whatever else we do we are to love our Saviour, and each other for His sake.  Thirty years later, in Revelation 2, Jesus laments that His church in Ephesus has forsaken their first love.  The thrill is gone.  They don't love like they used to.  Their witness has lost it's power and may come to an end.

We need to pray as Paul had done in Ephesians 3 v 14-21 that our hearts will be filled constantly with the love of Jesus.


                                                                   For Love
 
 
Lord, I need Your help to do love better…
 
Because I confess there are people I don’t love much,
People I don’t like at all!
 
I admit I wouldn’t die for them.
I’d hardly cross the street for them.
So I’m not much like You, am I?
 
I read the bible and say prayers, I listen carefully in church.
I believe all the right things and disapprove of wrong,
But I seem to have forgotten how to love.
 
Part of me is afraid, or wary of disappointment,
Another part just too taken with myself.
But I look at myself and I look at the world
And I need to do love much better.
 
Remind me, Lord, of Your passion for us all,
That took You to a cross yet never dies,
That redeems the worthless and keeps on forgiving,
That refuses to be overwhelmed by the scale of the disaster
That is the fallen human race, written on each worn face.
 
Help me feel it again, welcome it, choose it over others, cherish it above all.
Help me surrender again, bare my need again.
Fill me again.  Nourish my heart with grace.
 
Please accompany me today, in my usual paths and maybe some new ones. Show me the love in Your heart for everyone I meet.
Help me celebrate it with them.
 
Forgive me
And help me do love much better.
 
 
Amen