This week the team has been across in Australia at the Reach Conference to join with 1,300 ministry workers to challenge and encourage one another to reach the nation with the good news of Jesus for the glory of God.
One of the consistent themes of the conference was that our mission, our service, our love for one another and the world, and our obedience to the Word must flow out of our love for God. Because God has first loved us in Christ we then live lives as wholehearted followers in Jesus. Any other motivation will be sorely lacking and will not sustain us over the long run or when times get tough.
It is summarised so will in the short little verse of 1 John 4:19,
'We love because he first loved us.'
So how are you going in your love for God? How do you grow yourself in love for God?
Well it comes first and foremost by reflecting on who God it, on appreciating what he has done for us in Jesus, and seeking to live by the Spirit who continues to re-ortientate our hearts away from ourselves and towards God and others.
Key to this is to have lives that are saturated by God's word. Hearts that long to hear God speak and are keen to put into practice what he says. Eyes that never grow weary looking at Jesus, his life and his sacrifice for us as the ultimate expression of God's love.
This Sunday it is ten years since we moved from Sydney to Wellington to plant City on a Hill. When we started we would constantly say to ourselves we want to be a church that loves Jesus and loves Wellington. That is as true today as it was back then. Driven by a deep love for God we can't help but love the city around us by sharing with it the great news of Jesus.
Grace & peace,
Andrew