WITH ALL YOUR HEART

“The most important [commandment],” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”  (Mark 12:29-31 NIV)

Sometimes our minds interfere with our hearts.  Logical objections get in the way of compassionate actions.  It’s not my responsibility.  I’m certainly not suggesting that you shouldn’t count the cost.  You should.  But if God is speaking to your heart, don’t let your mind get in the way of what God wants you to do.  Sometimes loving God with all your heart simply means listening to your heart instead of your head.

What does it mean to love God with all our hearts?

It means our hearts break for the things that break the heart of God.  It means we have identified the God-ordained passion that makes us glad, sad, or mad.  It means inaction is not an option, because the compassion of Christ is the driving motivation of our lives.

-- Mark Batterson in “PRIMAL: A Quest for the Lost Soul of Christianity”

#6051

HURT PEOPLE HURT PEOPLE

“Don’t just think about your own affairs, but be interested in others, too, and in what they are doing. Your attitude should be the kind that was shown us by Jesus Christ.” (Philippians 2:4-5 LB)

Hurt people hurt people. If someone is hurting you, that person is doing so because he or she is hurting. We need to look beyond people’s faults and see their needs. Then we can learn to love.

Have you discovered that the most obnoxious people and the least loveable people are those who need love the most? The people we would rather ignore are the ones who desperately need massive doses of love. Everyone needs love. If a person can’t get love, he will strive for attention. And if he can’t get attention, he will work at attracting negative attention. Subconsciously, he is saying, “I will be noticed, one way or another.”…

If instead of thinking about a person’s faults we begin to think about their needs, it will change the way we feel. 

-- Rick Warren in “God’s Power to Change Your Life”

#5795

LOVING GOD, LOVING OTHERS

“If someone says, ‘I love God,’ but hates a fellow believer, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see? And He has given us this command: Those who love God must also love their fellow believers.”  (1 John 4:20-21 NLT)

The social gospel is not an addendum to the gospel; it is the gospel.  If we read the Gospels, it becomes clear that it was not what Jesus said about God that got Him into trouble (but) His treatment of men and women, His way of being friendly with outcasts with whom no respectable Jew would have anything to do.  It has always been fairly safe to talk about God; it is when we start to talk about [humans] that the trouble starts. And yet the fact remains that there is no conceivable way of proving that we love God other than by loving [others].  And there is no conceivable way of proving that we love [others] than by doing something for those who most need help. 

-- William Barclay in “Ethics in a Permissive Society” [1971] 

#5417

OUR OWN SELFISHNESS

“Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from His love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.”  (Philippians 2:1-4 NIV)

We are prevented from making an Eden out of earth only because we love ourselves more than we love our neighbors. What is in our hearts is reflected in our behavior. Thus we try to accumulate more things than others while they accumulate more things than we; each becomes envious of the other. Greed and resentment develop, cause the petty village quarrels and the devastating world wars. Our own selfishness is “enemy number one.” 

-- Frank Laubach

#5043

CONDUITS OF GOD’S LOVE

“Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and His love is brought to full expression through us.”  (1 John 4:11-12 NLT Life Application Study Bible)

A conduit is a channel or tube through which water or electricity can be conveyed from one point to another.   God’s love has [filled our lives] so we can be a conduit of God’s love to others.

An empty piece of conduit is not worth much.  Its value is realized when it is used to convey something of greater value from one point to another. The value is in what is conveyed within the conduit…

Christians are connected to the source of love -- God.  That same love is to flow through our bodies as conduit so God can love people through you and me.  Someone may say, “I cannot love that person.”  It is not up to you to love that person.  Your job is to be a conduit through which God can love that person through you.

People need to see the mighty love of God flowing from you to them -- See it in your compassion… See it in your unselfishness… See it in your forgiveness… See it in your deeds.  

-- Adapted from Al Hughes

#5034

BECOMING MORE EMPATHETIC

“Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.”  (Romans 12:15)

Empathy is defined as the feeling that you understand and share another person’s experiences and emotions. You see someone going through a struggling situation and you don’t only feel bad for them, but also feel the pain that they are going through. You are able to put yourself into that situation and understand what they must be feeling. It’s more than just listening to a friend when they’re sad, it’s actively working to understand exactly how the person feels and why.

Empathy is one of the best ways for us to show other people that we love and care about them. God gave us the tools and skills to show genuine empathy to others. Christians can use empathy to show the Lord’s love at work… You can be their beacon of light if you let God work through you. If you have a specific situation where you cannot connect with someone, pray to God and ask Him to give you the wisdom. He can give your heart what it needs to let that other person in. 

-- Adapted from Megan Bailey at beliefnet.com

#4965

LEARNING TO LOVE

Jesus declared: “’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”  (Matthew 22:37-39)

You learn to speak by speaking, to study by studying, to run by running, to work by working; and just so, you learn to love God and [neighbor] by loving.  Begin as a mere apprentice, and the very power of love will lead you on to become a master of the art.

-- Saint Francis of Sales (1567-1622)

#4927

GOD’S LOVE AND TRUTH

“Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”  (Matthew 22:36-40 NRSV)

The "sweet spot" of spiritual power comes when God's love and God's truth are delivered in concert stereo.  Many congregations and believers are known for either their command of God's truth through Scripture or their abundant love of all creation.  It is time for more followers of Christ to consider them both an inseparable commodity.

At a monastery, a monk challenged us with this thought; "The great commandment is not two commands, but one.  They are inseparable."

God's pure love is unable to flow abundantly through a person who has not been filled up by it.  I am not saying you cannot love another, or that you cannot act in loving ways.  The unconditional love we need and seek is sourced at the wellspring of God.  To give it, you must first drink it in from the Source; there is no other way.  You cannot be a delivery vehicle of God's truth if you are not a recipient of God's unconditional and abundant love.

-- Larry Malone in “UM Men's Magazine”, Spring 2004


#4777

YOU HAVE A WITNESS TO MAKE

"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."  (Acts 1:8 NIV)

When the word missionary is mentioned, most American Christians think of persons who serve in foreign lands.  Images come to mind of faithful servants of God who go to faraway places with the prayer and with the financial support of Christians back home.  Missionaries go to faraway places to witness for Christ to persons who have not yet embraced Jesus as Savior and Lord.  However we must expand our images of missionaries… What is a missionary?  She or he is a person who has entered into a relationship of love and commitment with Christ.  That relationship compels devoted service and witness to [unchurched] persons wherever they are.  For most American Christians, that mission field is right in their own communities.

If you are a Christian, you are a missionary.  You have a witness to make to the many persons in your realm of influence who have not yet said "yes" to Christ.

-- Harold K. Bates in “Witness for Christ”

#4694

OUR NEED FOR NEIGHBORS

"Never abandon a friend -- either yours or your father’s. When disaster strikes, you won’t have to ask your brother for assistance. It’s better to go to a neighbor than to a brother who lives far away." (Proverbs 27:10 NLT)

Often it takes a moment of crisis to wake us up to our need for others, making us aware of the interdependence that is a natural part of being human. When things are going well, we tend to live an illusion of independence, not only from God but also from our fellow human beings. As long as life moves smoothly forward, we tend to think we can handle everything on our own. However, a passing storm -- any kind of setback or crisis -- reminds us that we need help.

-- Sarah Parsons in “A Clearing Season”


#4690

SERVING GOD

"Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.”  (1 Corinthians 9:6-8 NIV)

One of the principal rules of religion is, to lose no occasion of serving God. And, since He is invisible to our eyes, we are to serve Him in our neighbor; which He receives as if done to Himself in person, standing visibly before us.

-- John Wesley in “A Plain Account of Christian Perfection"

#4593

THE CHRISTMAS GIFT

A gift is something that is given to another voluntarily and for which no payment is received or expected. It is a way we have of saying to another, “I love you” or “I think you are wonderful.”

God’s ultimate gift to us is the giving of His Son, Jesus Christ. We remember that gift in one of the best know verses of the Bible, John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” When we remember the giving of that great gift, it is appropriate that we should respond to God’s love with expressions of our love. But how can we respond to God’s love? Jesus taught that love of God and love of neighbor go hand in hand. (Cf. Matthew 22:37-40, John 13:34-35, 1 John 4:19). The giving of gifts to those we love is just one way to show that we have learned of love from Jesus. 

-- Kenneth A. Mortonson in “The Advent Instructor: Reflections on Christmas Symbolism”


#4479

A GOOD NEIGHBOR

Jesus told a story: “A Jewish man was traveling from Jerusalem down to Jericho, and he was attacked by bandits. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him up, and left him half dead beside the road. By chance a priest came along. But when he saw the man lying there, he crossed to the other side of the road and passed him by. A Temple assistant walked over and looked at him lying there, but he also passed by on the other side. Then a despised Samaritan came along, and when he saw the man, he felt compassion for him. Going over to him, the Samaritan soothed his wounds with olive oil and wine and bandaged them. Then he put the man on his own donkey and took him to an inn, where he took care of him. The next day he handed the innkeeper two silver coins, telling him, ‘Take care of this man. If his bill runs higher than this, I’ll pay you the next time I’m here.’ Now which of these three would you say was a neighbor to the man who was attacked by bandits?” Jesus asked.  (Luke 10:30-36 NLT)

We instinctively tend to limit for whom we exert ourselves. We do it for people like us, and for people whom we like. Jesus will have none of that. By depicting a Samaritan helping a Jew, Jesus could not have found a more forceful way to say that anyone at all in need -- regardless of race, politics, class, and religion -- is your neighbor.  Not everyone is your brother or sister in faith, but everyone is your neighbor, and you must love your neighbor.

-- Timothy Keller in “Generous Justice: How God's Grace Makes Us Just”

#4264

AN ETERNAL PERSPECTIVE

“Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.   And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”  (Philippians 4:6-7 NRSV)

She wished she could be more like her husband. Nothing ever seemed to get him. He took everything in stride, and he acted as though he hadn’t a care in the world. She, on the other hand, worried about everything. She was positive that if there was something that could possibly go wrong, it would. She didn’t mean to be negative, but she couldn’t help it. She wanted to be able to let go of her doubts and fears, but so far she hadn’t been able to.

It’s sometimes hard to realize that God gave us life as a gift. Many times it feels like such a burden. God never wants us to suffer unnecessarily. Part of the message that Christ brought to this world was that no one had to face problems alone. God is with us always. Another part of His message was that nothing on this earth is important other than our relationship to God and to our neighbor. Job, finances, illness, and a hundred other things create stress in our lives, but when compared with the bigger picture of eternal life, they are totally insignificant. As Christians, we need to learn to look at the world through eternity-eyes, rather than temporal-eyes. Our home is in heaven, and everything that happens to us now means nothing, so long as we have our relationship in order.

-- Dan and Nancy Dick in “Daily Wisdom from the Bible”


#4158

LEARNING TO LISTEN

The first service one owes to others in the fellowship consists in listening to them.  Just as love of God begins in listening to His Word, so the beginning of love for [our brothers and sisters] is learning to listen to them.  It is God's love for us that He not only gives us His Word but lends us His ear.  So it is His work that we do for [others] when we learn to listen to [them].

-- Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945) in Life Together

#3909

THE CONSUMMATION OF THE TWO COMMANDMENTS

Jesus said to him, " 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' "  (Matthew 22:37-39)

As out of Jesus' affliction came a new sense of God's love and a new basis for love between [human beings], so out of our affliction we may grasp the splendor of God's love and how to love one another.  Thus the consummation of the two commandments was on Golgotha; and the Cross is, at once, their image and their fulfillment.

-- Malcolm Muggeridge

#3890