A NEWSLETTER FOR THE MEMBERS OF THE GREENWOOD CHURCH OF CHRIST

VOLUME 3 NO. 17                                            June 18, 2006

“A CLANGING CYMBAL”

BY STEVE NIEMEIER

I Corinthians 13 is known as the chapter of love.  Paul deals with love in such a way that it cannot be misunderstood what genuine and true love is.  He states in the first verse that if he does not have love he is as a sounding brass or clanging cymbal.

Do you ever find yourself just going through the motions?  Maybe it is in fixing breakfast for the family or talking with your spouse or doing your duties as a father or mother.  Your heart just isn't it on that day.  Maybe your marriage is suffering because you have quit working with your spouse to make the marriage work.  We all have things that we grow tired of and just go through the motions and do the duties but without love in our hearts.

Sometimes this even goes as far as our service to one another as brothers and sisters in Christ.  Maybe we do something for each other but we do not have love in our hearts and the actions are just actions of emptiness.  The deeds might get done but they are done as a sounding brass or clanging cymbal.

This also occurs when we attend worship services and do not worship our God in Spirit and Truth (John 3:23-24).  We attend the Bible Study, sing the songs, bow in prayer, participate in giving, and partake of the Lord's Supper but our actions are done with out the love in our hearts for what we are doing.  As a result our worship goes up to the Lord as a sounding brass or clanging cymbal.  We must do our deeds with the proper love in our hearts!