Welcome to all of our new members. I look forward to getting to know each of you better! I was trying to decide which verse was my favorite (that's pretty hard to pick just one). I have been enjoying I Cor. 13 lately. Dad preached a message not long ago on charity and used this passage. He read the first three verses and made the point that we can do all of these "good" things and not have charity, and it means nothing. To me, this meant, I could do the things a good wife should, be a good mother, help others, etc., but if I didn't have the attributes of charity (given in verses 4-8), then the other things didn't matter. I started trying to apply the attributes of charity to my husband (I decided this was the best place to start :-) ). I picked one or two (the first week it was long-suffering and kindness) and tried to apply those to my husband. I feel that this has really changed my marriage, or maybe just my attitude towards my marriage. I am no longer concentrating on what my husband does or does not do, but on what my attitude needs to be. This is really very freeing!

Then, a couple of weeks ago, I noticed I Cor. 16:14 -- "Let all your things be done with charity". The context is within the local assembly. I saw then that I need to show the aspects of charity within my local church. As long as God's saving grace is not being compromised, we should show charity (longsuffering, kindness, not boasting, seeking not our own, thinking no evil, etc) to those of the body of Christ (not just to those who are easy to show charity too, but to everyone). Here again, we can be the best church-goer there is, but without charity, "it profiteth me nothing".

Being the pastor's daughter, I have seen many times over the years, where people have done much to hinder the ministry of our local church (and others) standing for the Word of God rightly divided by not showing charity to other church members.

I desire your prayers as I continue to learn to show charity, and I will be praying the same for each of you. I look forward to hearing from each of you about your favorite verses!

In Christ,
Stephanie
Wife to Billy (for 8 yrs) and Mom to Hannah (5), Kristen (4), and Will (8 months)
www.understandingyourbible.com