Petoskey United Methodist Church
Weekly Devotional

February 26, 2008
By Jerry Patterson

pattersjer@yahoo.com

Love Always Wins
 

NLT 1 Corinthians 1:10 “I appeal to you, dear brothers and sisters, by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, to live in harmony with each other. Let there be no divisions in the church. Rather, be of one mind, united in thought and purpose.”

It is amazing that God in His infinite wisdom made us all so wonderfully, beautifully different and yet remarkably very much the same. Take any two people from anywhere in this glorious world and their DNA will be at least 99% identical. All of the differences for the billions of people on this earth reside in that less than 1% of our DNA. Short, tall, left handed, right handed, foot size, head size, body shape, hair color, eye color, ear shape, nose shape, allergies…well, you get the idea, all those difference occupy just a very small part of our DNA.

Get four people in a room and ask them what color the walls should be and after 12 different selections you’ll end up focused on the less than one percent. Organize twelve people into a committee to decide on the color of the walls and you might end up talking about new windows, moving the door, new carpet or changing the lighting. You’re still wallowing in the less than 1 percent.

In any disagreement, in the church or in our everyday lives, we struggle trying to win or not lose – the one percent – rather than focusing on the 99 percent we share or agree upon. If, in this time of Lent, we see the meaning of the sacrifice Jesus made for us on that tree, our objective should be the same as His; to love – not to win. God proved that love always wins with the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

When Paul says “Let there be no divisions” and “to live in harmony with each other” he is not suggesting that we all have to believe exactly the same. There is a huge difference between disagreeing and having divergent viewpoints and going all out to make your point, to win, or to be divisive. Focusing on the 99% we are alike will go a long ways to the objective – to love, not win. That is hard medicine to take, particularly if you are a passionate or strong willed person. Here are three ideas from His Word that may help:

Jesus – Our very purpose is defined by Jesus’ life and His teachings. Try not to lean on your own understanding, seek Jesus in all conflicts.

Mercy – God’s plan is for us to share mercy as a reflection of the mercy we have received. We do not deserve His mercy any more than an opponent in an argument might deserve mercy. But we are called to give mercy regardless.

Prayer – What better way could there be to get us refocused on who is in charge and what is important, than to pray together when a dispute erupts. Prayer puts God in front of everyone and can give us that eternal perspective that will help us to focus on the 99% - the common ground.

When we allow God’s love to flow through us and on to any disagreement that is the only time we win.

Love always wins.

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