Thursday, May 05, 2005

Winning Edges Pt 3- Learning to Love

Matthews24:3 "Later, Jesus sat on the slopes of the Mount of Olives. His disciples came to him privately and asked, "When will all this take place? And will there be any sign ahead of time to signal your return and the end of the world?"
4 Jesus told them, "Don't let anyone mislead you. 5 For many will come in my name, saying, 'I am the Messiah.' They will lead many astray. 6 And wars will break out near and far, but don't panic. Yes, these things must come, but the end won't follow immediately. 7 The nations and kingdoms will proclaim war against each other, and there will be famines and earthquakes in many parts of the world. 8 But all this will be only the beginning of the horrors to come. 9 "Then you will be arrested, persecuted, and killed. You will be hated all over the world because of your allegiance to me. 10 And many will turn away from me and betray and hate each other. 11 And many false prophets will appear and will lead many people astray. 12 Sin will be rampant everywhere, and the love of many will grow cold. 13 But those who endure to the end will be saved."

II Timothy3:1 "You should also know this, Timothy, that in the last days there will be very difficult times. 2 For people will love only themselves and their money. They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents, and ungrateful. They will consider nothing sacred. 3 They will be unloving and unforgiving; they will slander others and have no self-control; they will be cruel and have no interest in what is good. 4 They will betray their friends, be reckless, be puffed up with pride, and love pleasure rather than God. 5 They will act as if they are religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly."

Our biggest weakness, in my opinion, is a lack of love for one another.
Part of this is cultural- we live in selfish times where we have lost the true meaning of love. We make fun of each other, we get jealous, we love things more than people.
How do you love better? You spend time together- sweat, work, hurt, and bleed together. You learn to forgive others. I forgive all the time and need forgiveness all the time.

We keep our matters private and special within our group. Other students are your friends- your football team mates are your brothers.

You learn to pray for one another. You don’t have to showboat on the field because your brothers come over and celebrate a great play with you.

Your brothers hold you accountable to live right. You find worthwhile and fun things to do together.

Even better: you fight for a position and lose to another teammate-because you love the team and the brothers- you pull for that guy to do well. All my state championship teams has had that happen.

If you cannot seek to love these team players and coaches- please do not stay in this family. But remember Jesus’ command- ‘love one another’.

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