653 Do Everything in Love - 1 Corinthians 16:13-14

How much of what you do every day would you say comes from love?

Hi, I'm Mike Henry Sr. with Follower of One. Thanks for joining me again today on the Follower of One Podcast. I enjoy doing these devotionals. I'm basically giving you the same challenge I give myself every day as I go to work, as I start thinking about how God would use me in the world.

Today, I'm reading 1 Corinthians 16:13-14, and I'm reading from the Christian Standard Bible (CSB). "Be alert, stand firm in the faith. Be courageous, be strong, do everything in love." Some translations say act like men in verse 13, but since that doesn't carry as much meaning today as it did when Paul, I think the CSB rendering is accurate.

First, it begins with be alert. We're called to pay attention to our surroundings and the people around us. Our job as believers is to use this life to glorify Jesus Christ. It's not to make money for ourselves or to get ahead, or to advance our careers, or even to fulfill our own enjoyment, it's to do what Jesus would have us do.

Secondly, he says, "stand firm in the faith." I think we're all challenged to follow Jesus and do what He says, even when it's not easy. Often it requires that we stand firm. It requires that we hold fast to what we believe because the world around us doesn't cooperate with our model. It doesn't agree with the way Jesus has said that things work. Our world is broken and we broke it.

 The third phrase "be courageous" is the one that is often translated "act like men." Be courageous I believe is the challenge. We have to step into a world where our fear may dominate. Courage is choosing not to listen to our fears or choosing to act in spite of our fears. When we are courageous, we take responsibility. We step into challenges instead of running from them. We realize that the job is more important than reacting to our fears.

God calls us as believers to face the world as it is, broken and falling apart. We face the world as it is, and we challenge our circumstances by trusting our Lord.

And be strong. That means that we do the hard things. We spend the money or the time. We go out of our way to help others. We actually make arrangements to have time, money, and energy to give. Strong people have extra, they have more than they need. We need to be a people who gather and arrange to have more than we need so that we have some to share with others. We are in a position to be strong, to give our energy or our resources away for the benefit of others.

This is a calling for believers, and this is verse 13 from 1 Corinthians 16. But the key point in our message today is verse 14. " let all that you do be done in love," it says "do everything in love" in the CSB.

When we do everything in love, it means we must care for others first. Our love, our willingness to put them ahead of ourselves, is the flavor of everything that we do. It's the motive behind it. It's the energy behind it.

Today in our workplaces, let's do everything in love. Let's do our jobs in love, with love, for the people that we work with. And let's live our lives with love, giving away the things that we need to so that Jesus can be glorified. That's our job as believers, is to live our lives in such a way that Jesus becomes visible. When we do all that we do because we love. Then we are making Jesus visible in our world.

Thank you for being a marketplace minister. And thank you for following Jesus with your life. If you'd like to join a community of people who want to also glorify Jesus by the way they live, check us out at https://followerofone.org.

Thanks very much.