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Dear Beloved Members, Pastors, and Supporters,
Over the next few months I will be writing and releasing a series of articles entitled Burdened. These articles are not written to discourage, but in an attempt to share my heart and hopefully awaken a burden in all of us.
There is a quiet burden that doesn’t always show up in attendance numbers or budget reports, but weighs heavily on my heart when I see this growing lack of love for one another within the body of Christ.
Jesus made love the defining mark of His followers. “By this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35). Yet too often, our churches reflect the spirit of the world more than the heart of Christ; marked by division, impatience, criticism, and personal agendas.
This is not a call for shallow friendliness or surface-level kindness. Biblical love is much deeper than that. It is sacrificial. It is patient. It bears with one another, forgives freely, and seeks unity over preferences. The apostle Paul reminds us that without love, even our greatest efforts amount to nothing (1 Corinthians 13:1–3).
A lack of love weakens our witness. It grieves the Holy Spirit. It creates distance where Christ intended unity. And it leaves many wounded believers quietly slipping away, not because they rejected the gospel, but because they did not experience love lived out among God’s people.
The burden, then, is also an invitation. An invitation to examine our hearts. To repent where pride has replaced humility. To choose grace over grumbling, compassion over criticism, and reconciliation over division.
May the Lord renew in us a genuine love for one another. One that reflects Christ’s love to a world that is watching us. May our churches be strengthened from the inside out.
“Above all things, have fervent love for one another, for love will covers a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8).
With Great Love!
Richard Taylor
Director, Corpus Christi Baptist Association
Rtaylor@ccbaptistassociation.org
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