When looking at numbers we will find them inextricably interwoven into our routine of living i.e., birth dates, bill due date, phones, receipts,
licenses, calendar dates, etcetera and etcetera! Numbers are an ever present fact in our everyday lives, and we should not think it strange to search out what specific numbers mean; we have just transitioned out of ‘2015' and entered into
‘2016’.
The number ‘sixteen’ is symbolic of love and loving, and what the world needs now is more love, and it sounds cliché, however it was true then and it is true
now. When one looks or listens to all of the tragedies that have befallen many men and women in ‘2015' by the likes of an ISIS inspired attack in Paris on November 13, leaving 130 dead and another 368 injured in several attacks across the
city. Another back on June 17, 2015 Dylan Roof killed nine people in a Charleston, South Carolina church because of the color of their skin; which is a dark reminder that despite all of the progress in race relations in the United States, there is still
a long way to go! These are just a couple of human tragedies off a table of plenty.
There is a fear that has gripped so many that they use killing as a mechanism to maintain what they perceive
to be control, I do not have enough time to dissect the fear factor which motivates people to go to the extreme in things they either truly believe or do not understand. However Christians have an obligation to become living examples of God's love not
just by physically obeying the His ordinances which should be a matter of course, but also by following the full spiritual purpose of God’s will, laws and judgements. our Creator's laws and judgments Matthew 22:34-40 (MSG) 34 When the Pharisees
heard how he had bested the Sadducees, they gathered their forces for an assault. 35 One of their religion scholars spoke for them, posing a question they hoped would show him up: 36 "Teacher, which command in God's Law is the most important?" 37 Jesus said,
" 'Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence.' 38 This is the most important, the first on any list. 39 But there is a second to set alongside it: 'Love others as well as you love yourself.' 40 These two commands are pegs; everything
in God's Law and the Prophets hangs from them."
Too many people in the name of God, are not loving themselves, and if you can not love yourself, you surely can not love me, but here we are in “2016”,
and the number ‘16' is emblematic of Love and all of us who have been graced by the ultimate gesture of Love by Christ Jesus, must be pillars and stalwarts of Love, thus here in ‘2016' we must make a renewed commitment to mirror the love
of God if change is to be effected in this world.
Allow the Holy Spirit to impart into you a healthier spirit of love that you may impart to others, and a good reference point and tool if you will
can be found in 1st Corinthians 13:4-8 which offers us ‘16" traits and qualities of LOVE, one would do well to commit and exercise them in their life style of Love in Christ, so others who have not experienced true Love, will get an opportunity to do
so. Let “2016” be the year that Love covers and governs!