One Name

December 06, 2017 0 0

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1 Corinthians 1: 3-9

3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

4 I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that has been given you in Christ Jesus, 5 for in every way you have been enriched in him, in speech and knowledge of every kind— 6 just as the testimony of Christ has been strengthened among you— 7 so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ. 8 He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you may be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 God is faithful; by him you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

We take a moment with CrossReach in the first of a weekly series through December.

One name is repeated in the opening paragraph of Paul’s letter - Jesus. Paul can’t stop talking about Jesus, because without Jesus nothing else he said or did made any sense. He wants his recipients to understand what it means to have Jesus at the centre of their life, their thoughts, their imagination. If they can do that, everything else will sort itself out. Jesus himself taught that our first priority should be to seek God’s kingdom and righteousness, with the assurance that if we do so, God will provide everything we need.

In the face of the challenges we face in our daily lives, we can easily become disheartened and lose our way. It is only when we keep our thoughts fixed on Jesus, that we are able to stand firm and receive God’s gracious gifts.

In CrossReach, our aim is to offer services in Christ’s name to people in need. Our motivation for serving others is a response to the grace and love of God, shown to us by Jesus Christ. Christ's love moves us to reach out to those who have the greatest need: the marginalised, the poor, the frail, the hurting and the disadvantaged. We face many challenges in sustaining our services, and it is only through the commitment and dedication of our staff, and our focus on serving in Christ’s name, that we are able to achieve our purpose.

Loving God, we thank you for all the gracious gifts, given for our creation, nurture and enrichment; above all for the gift of Jesus, your Son, our Saviour, and for all that he means to us. We love you because you first loved us, and showed your love most of all in Jesus.

We pray that you will enable us to keep our hearts and our minds fixed on Jesus, so that we will not be distracted by the things of this world that would divert us from the path of true service. May we always be conscious of the responsibility we have to look after the vulnerable members of our society. We give thanks for the work of CrossReach, and for the dedication of the staff who support and deliver its services. May they be strengthened and enabled to show Christ’s love to those who are in greatest need. Amen.