Church it’s way past time that we go beyond. Beyond is a location that most people do not go, not because it does not sound good, not because it is not enticing, but because they prefer where they are to where they want to go. To get to beyond, we have to pay a price, we have to lay down our lives, we have to die to ourselves and most people love themselves so much, they are not willing, nor do they desire to lay down themselves to go into the beyond. We say we want to go beyond, but our actions show we don’t want to go beyond and the fruit of not going beyond is everywhere.

Colossians 3:14 says, “Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.” Beyond all these things, what things, the things Paul spoke about in the preceding verses. “Compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other.” We may ask what is beyond these things? Paul says love is beyond all these things. We think compassion is love, kindness is love, humility is love, gentleness is love, patience is love, forgiving is love, but Paul says here in Colossians and in 1 Corinthians 13, the greatest of these, the beyond of these is love.

If love is beyond all these things we would consider as love, then Paul is saying something we can’t hear, but he wants to tell us. Jesus told us in John 15 what love is, “This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends if you do what I command you.” If we are going to go beyond we have to lay down who we are, where we come from, what we want, which way we want to go in order to know biblical love. Isn’t this what Jesus did? And are we not called to imitate Him? The invitation is to go beyond, but to do that we must learn what it means to love God and love others. This Paul says will bring us into unity. Love is going to unify the church. It’s way past time to go beyond!

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