From the Desk of Pastor Mehl

Love on Purpose

“Don’t love the world and what it offers. Those who love the world don’t have the Father’s love in them. Not everything that the world offers – physical gratification, greed, and extravagant lifestyles – comes from the Father. It comes from the world, and the world and its evil desires are passing away. But the person who does what God wants lives forever.”
1 John 2:15-17

As this school year comes to it’s close, everyone, it seems, is looking forward to what is next. Some students will be returning and some will go to other schools. Graduates matriculate with a diploma in hand only to start over in college or perhaps a military stint. It might appear like a slow process, but eventually the things that are taught – are either put into practice - or forgotten.

Many things WILL be forgotten. For about 10 years after I graduated from high school I could still remember quadratic equation, but it got a bit fuzzy after a few more decades. The problem is that I never used it. That is not to say that some people might find it helpful in their line of work,

but it didn’t come up enough for me. Actually not at all.

Other things should not only be remembered, but put into practice every day. One of those things is love. Not the kind of love that the world tries to sell, but the love that comes from our Heavenly Father. In our text above, the apostle John knew a thing or two about love. He was known as the disciple whom Jesus loved and that divine kind of love became the theme for most of John’s writings.

The problem is that the world will try to substitute its version of love (physical gratification, greed, and extravagant lifestyles) which ends up destroying people because it is shallow and is passing away. The person who does what God wants has the proper kind of love and “lives forever.”

Here at Saint Paul Lutheran High School, we talk a lot about our present and future vocations. The Christian vocation is intimately tied together with God’s love, His will and purpose. The world without Christ can only come up with selfish egocentric lives that have no real eternal purpose. For many folks – that’s as good as it gets. We want something better for our students. We want lives that are filled with the joy of God’s divine love.

Rev. Paul M. Mehl

Executive Director