Pastoral - Open Letter: "Love Your Brother, Lay Down Your Rights"

   If you step foot into any particular people group, it wont take long for you to realize that every single person brings a different set of characteristics, quirks, opinions, and background to the table. Lonestar Home Group is no exception. As we closed out our first trimester a couple of months ago, "Love Your Brother, Lay Down Your Rights" began to take on a new meaning for each of us. 

 

    I (Victor) grew up in various denominations and because of it, it was always important to know why I believed the things I believed. When I graduated High School I decided to attend College of Biblical Studies because I wanted to have the tools to study the bible on my own and to understand what the scripture was saying. When I was put into leadership at Providence as a home group leader, I thought that I was ready because of the knowledge I had received at CBS, but I quickly learned that I had to find a balance between regurgitating what my professors had taught me and genuinely believing and living out what I had learned. I always heard my professors say that just because you know something, doesn't mean you actually believe it. 

 

    On the other hand, I (Meagan) have always had it on my heart to show love first and foremost. Ever since I had become a Christian in my early high school days, showing love and mercy always came more naturally for me rather than talking about the application and/or knowledge of systematic theology. But don't get me wrong, God's love has moved my heart to a deeper understanding of His heart behind His word.

 

    That being said, we come from pretty opposite ends of the spectrum. One of our struggles in the beginning was finding a balance between our mutual vision and the way we approached the ministry. We didn't see that we had a huge blessing and learning opportunity at hand. As time went on, we saw that our differences were affecting the members of our HG and we had to run to truth and wisdom or we were going to run our home group and our friendship into the ground. 

 

    An understanding of the plea, "Love Your Brother, Lay Down Your Rights," is vital for healthy community. As Pastor Kort said on Sunday, 1 Corinthians 8:1-3 challenges us to let the love and grace of God sprout a healthy and genuine pursuit of knowing God. Philippians 3:8 says,

 

 

     "do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you not look only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others."

 

Victor easily lets his knowledge puff up his pride, while Meagan focuses on loving and relating to people well and we both had to humble ourselves because Christ humbled himself to the point of death on the cross. It's at this moment that we realized our personal goals for our home group weren't necessarily the best. We had to lay down our pride and unhealthy balance of knowledge and let God lead our home group. It's not about knowledge, experience, who's right, who's wrong, but it's about humbling ourselves and pointing everything back to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. If anyone loves God, he is known by God and being known by God brings us to the acceptance of His grace.

 

 

-Victor and Meagan