All of us have taken the path of nobody trying to prove to be somebody. Therefore, we disobey God and often we do not follow God’s instruction. But there is only one person who is truly somebody but became nobody for us.
As I prepared today’s passage from Leviticus 19, it reminds me of the one thing we have in common, no matter where we are from.
First, who knows this song:
“Loving can hurt. Loving can hurt sometimes. But it’s the only thing that I know. When it gets hard. You know it can get hard sometimes. It is the only thing that makes us feel alive.”
Who agrees with me that loving people is not easy? Although in my self-introduction, I always say “Hi I’m Lilian and my nickname is Love (That’s why I named today’s sermon Love is Our Nickname), undeniably love is so challenging. If we are not intentional in loving others, we will soon find ourselves spending a lot of time and money on making ourselves happy and comfortable, while being angry all the time.
Why is love so challenging? Here’s the answer that I’ve found in the Bible. Love is challenging because the standard of love is God. And we can’t meet that standard unless He helps us.
Intern Pastor Lilian Chung
Lighthouse Community Church
Our Christian identity does not change from the environment or time but changes by a person, Jesus Christ. He changes us. God’s Word is renewing our mind every day. We may do the same things every day.
Just as before, We have obligations to fulfil, schedules to be kept and people to be pleased. But every day the Holy Spirit is teaching us to be more Christlike. And we need to learn to obey him and not just coast along in life. Otherwise our lives will end up like houses built on sand.
Sooner or later the storm will come. The environment will change; or our relationships will change, or our friends won’t go to church; or our health will collapse, or we’ll just get distracted with the next exciting thing. Sooner or later our faith will be tested.
So, it’s crucial that while we get a chance we find our identity in the solid foundation, Jesus Christ.
So my sermon today is about how God changes us.