"Love is the bottom line.” This statement was made by one of my professors at Alaska Bible College, when I first heard it I did not think much of it. I logged it in my notes and promptly forgot about it after school got out. I stumbled across it as I was looking though some old notes trying to find a song I had been working on quite a while back. After reading that again, and again, and again, I sat back and had a good laugh because over the last five weeks this is exactly what I have been learning here at Good News Camp. Jeff and I have had countless conversation about Love and about how that is what we are called to do.
For example, a couple of weeks ago on the first day of camp there was one guy camper that kept on saying how much he hated camp and wanted to go home. Our two guy counselors sat down with him and asked him what was wrong and why he wanted to go home. The kids response took them both a little off guard,“Why are you doing this?” They both responded by telling the kid that they wanted him to have a chance to learn and grow in Christ and just have an awesome time at camp. “No one has ever taken the time to actually wonder what was wrong,” was the kids response. That kid went on to have an amazing week of camp and learn more about God just because two guys took the time to Love, because Love is the bottom line.
Most people know 1st Corinthians 13 as “The Love Chapter” because the entire thing is all about Love, and the importance of Love. It is spread out into a few different sections. The first talks all about how, when we do things, no matter how good they are, without Love it means nothing at all. The next section speaks about the qualities of Love. After that it goes onto how Love never fails.
The last little bit is what I really want to look at. In 1st Corinthians 13:13 it says “And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love (NKJV)”. Love is the bottom line! It clearly states just how important Love is! Love is the most important of all! God sent his son to DIE for everyone because of how much He loved them! The least we can do is show Love to others around us, reflecting the Love of God out to the world.
We as Christians are called to Love, we are called to Love our co-workers no matter how difficult they can be to work with. We are called to Love difficult campers, despite how much they don’t listen to us. We are called to Love angry parents, despite the fact that the issue they have is their own fault and they blame everyone else for their problems. We are called to show Love to Christians and non-Christians. We are called to Love!
Love is the bottom line.
