Day 1 - Love First: Unwrapping the Gift

Love First: Unwrapping the Gift

“You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”
Matthew 5:14-16

Are we ready for this gift? Are we ready to embrace the vision that our leadership has prayed for and studied about? Are we ready to live lives that are rooted in Love First? Are we ready to make a difference in our circle of friends, our neighborhoods, our communities, our congregation, our world? Are we ready to take Jesus and his love and let others see his light in us? What if evangelism is one of the things this world needs most? Evangelism. That’s what we’re talking about. But maybe a different concept of evangelism than you think.

In his book More Ready Than You Realize, Brian McLaren wrote this about evangelism: “On the street, evangelism is equated with pressure. It means selling God as if God were vinyl siding, replacement windows, or a mortgage refinancing service. It means shoving your ideas down someone’s throat, threatening him with hell if he does not capitulate to your logic or Scripture-quoting.” Maybe that’s the idea you have of evangelism. If so, let’s talk about a different way. Let’s talk about Love First and evangelizing like Jesus did.

McLaren continued, “If you know anything about Jesus at all, you probably know that he was an amazing conversationalist...Jesus was short on sermons, long on conversations; short on answers, long on questions; short on abstractions and propositions, long on stories and parables; short on telling you what to think, long on challenging you to think for yourself...”

In the words of Carl Medearis in his book Speaking of Jesus, “The definition of evangelism is this—be nice and talk about Jesus all the time...it’s not rocket science...”

I may not be able to quote scripture like preachers and scholars can, but I can talk about my day and how I saw Jesus work in my life that day. I can show love to those around me by showing consideration, respect, value, time, and honor. It’s the way of Love First.

Your Mission
What has God given you in abundance? Share it with someone today. Pray that God will give you that opportunity—and then watch for it.

Day 2 - Love First: Receiving the Gift of Vision

Love First: Receiving the Gift of Vision

“So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be open.”
Luke 11:9-10

Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.
Psalm 119:105

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.
Proverbs 3:5-6

Receiving a gift can generate a lot of emotions, can’t it? There are gifts we don’t expect; there are gifts that touch our hearts; there are gifts that we don’t deserve; there are gifts that come with responsibilities; and there are the gifts that we get that let us know the giver knows us well and has given much thought to the gift…those are really special.

God has given our Shepherds the gift of tending our flock, our church family. He has given them a gift that comes with responsibilities. And their responsibilities include guiding us and leading us. Our Shepherds have given our ministers the gift of communicating and helping with the shepherding. That gift also has responsibilities. As the church family, we are loved so much that the gift is passed along to us, as well. This gift has responsibilities for us. God knows us well; he knows this is the perfect gift for us.

Our Shepherds want us to live that life of Love First so that as we have been loved, we will love others. It’s the gift that really does keep on giving. One of the real blessings of this gift is that the more we give away, the more we receive until we are overflowing with love for God and love for others.

No one plans to live their life in hindsight, do they? There’s that whole “hindsight is 20/20” business, right? It’s nearly impossible to move forward by looking backward. We want to do the next thing and the next thing and the next thing that God wants us to do for his kingdom. Those next things are showing and telling others what Jesus has done for us. And we can do that because we have been given so much from God that we can’t help but spill over to others.

Your Mission
Pray today that God will put someone in your path who can receive the overflow of your blessings. Determine to tell one person today what Jesus has done for you and make it happen. Be specific.

Day 3 - Love First: Giving the Gift of Vision

Love First: Giving the Gift of Vision

If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. If I speak God’s Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, “Jump,” and it jumps, but I don’t love, I’m nothing. If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love.
1 Corinthians 13:1-3 (The Message)

Love is the best gift. Love helps us see beyond the moment and into possibilities. Love makes us feel valuable and honored. We have a wonderful day we dedicate to our “Valentines.” Gifts given to us in love last forever—oh, maybe not the gift itself…but the moment lasts, the feeling lasts, and the message stays with us.

Many of us have loved ones, and we can remember the first time they told us they loved us or we told them we loved them. The future looked so dazzling. We felt that we could soar the heights and do anything because our love was so strong. What an incredible feeling! While that has lasted longer for some than others, it’s still true for the moment. God’s moment is forever. In our mutual love, we can do so much!

What if God gave you a gift—the gift of vision? What if God showed you exactly what he wanted you to do for him and for his kingdom? What if there was no guess work involved—it was spelled out plainly? Wouldn't that be the best gift ever? And what if he told you the perfect gift to give to others every single time? Wouldn't that be awesome?

Well, God has given us that gift. It is summed up like this: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” And he says it over and over in lots of different ways. Love is the answer God has been trying to give us. Love Him. Love Others.

Is God’s love more than you want? Of course not. Is it more than you want to give to someone else? That’s the real question. We can lay out missions and visions and goals, but without love they are likely to fail. The answer is Love First.

Your Mission
What are you stingy with? Is it your time, your love, your money? Something else? Be honest. Ask God to help you keep it from coming between you and him.

Day 4 - Maybe We Need to Get Over Ourselves

Maybe We Need to Get Over Ourselves

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another:

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.”

At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.

“Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”

Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”

And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”


Isaiah 6:1-8

Sometimes we pray to God, asking him to use us in his kingdom. Then, when someone asks us to help in a ministry, we tell them, “That’s not my thing” or “I don’t like that.” That’s asking God to provide a place for you and then telling him it’s not good enough. Yikes. Choosing to live a life rooted in Love First means we serve where we are needed with a loving heart. Because it’s not about us—it’s about others. It’s about loving God and loving others. It’s not about how comfortable we are. It’s not about being with our friends. It’s not about deserving anything. It’s about loving God and loving others.

Choosing Love First is a commitment to shining like Christ to our neighbors, our co-workers, our friends, the people who serve us, the people we serve, anyone who sees us...whether we see them first or not. In fact, Love First may mean I don’t prefer something, but because it shows Christ to someone else, I’ll go ahead and do it cheerfully with a loving heart.

In the last few decades, a phrase has emerged in casual conversations that has a truthful message: Get over yourself. In order to be the aroma of Christ to others, in order to live our lives Love First, in order to show God’s love to our community/neighborhood/parish/whatever, maybe we need to get over ourselves. Maybe we need to recognize that God’s picture is bigger than my picture or your picture. And Love First will probably mean everything isn’t done my way.

But isn’t that the point? In today’s scripture reading, Isaiah realized that he would never be good enough, clean enough, whatever enough...but God sent an angel to let him know he could be enough. And when God asked for someone to take him—take his word—to others, Isaiah knew he could do it. He probably wasn't comfortable doing it. He may not have ever done it that way. But Love First helps us get over ourselves.

Your Mission
Use the phrase “Help me to get over myself” in your prayers today. Be aware of situations where you demand to get your own way.

Day 5 - Seeing the Bigger Picture

Seeing the Bigger Picture

“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me."
John 17:20-23

“Seeing the big picture” is a phrase that was first used in the mid-20th century to refer to the main movie at a showing. It has come to mean more than that. Now it means that you need to pay attention to all of the small things to see what they add up to. If we just focus on one small piece of something, we may miss what it’s all about. There are many examples of this: factory line applications (if all you do is put on a certain bolt at the beginning of a car assembly, you may not see its importance in holding the car together); most processes that have pieces outsourced; algebra.

Jesus modeled this in his prayer in John 17. He began the chapter by praying to his Father for himself, as he was drawing nearer to the end of his time on earth. Then he prayed for his disciples, that God would protect them and continue to bless them (Jesus uses the phrase “sanctify them,” which means to set them apart). Finally, he prayed for all believers to reflect the love that God has for them as they go about their lives.

What Jesus wants is a reflection of what God wants—for us to love others as we have been loved by our heavenly Father and his Son. That love is what we are to pass on to others—not just those close to us that we like. He wants us to love others...Love First. When we practice a Love First lifestyle, we look beyond first appearances so that we can open our eyes to what Christ wants us to see. It may mean that we change our usual approach to see people with our hearts instead of just our eyes. Love First means that we think beyond this present moment.

What if we were to think of ways that our neighborhood (street, apartment building, cul-de-sac, homeowners’ association, etc.) could be better—and how we could be a loving and gentle presence there? What if we proactively decided to make a difference in the lives of people around us who aren’t able to do for themselves at the moment? Whether it’s helping elderly people on our street with yard work or repairs or helping teachers at the beginning or end of the year by carrying things in or out and taking things down or putting things up, or even spending a few minutes in the parking lot of a grocery or department store taking carts back to the store or to the corral area when people have unloaded them...it’s a Love First action that expects nothing in return but has incredible benefits for the kingdom.

Your Mission
Look for specific ways to “pay it forward” today. Do something kind for someone else without expecting anything in return.

Day 6 - Love First: Beyond Shame

Love First: Beyond Shame

At dawn he [Jesus] appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.

But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.

At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”

“No one, sir,” she said.

“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”
John 8:2-11

We’ve talked about this before. There are always consequences to our choices. If we could remember this on the front end, we could save ourselves—in many cases—a lot of heartache and hassle. We know that this woman in the story was caught in adultery and felt shame. She was on the receiving end of some really humiliating consequences for her choices.

What about the religious leaders who brought her to Jesus? Their motives were so not pure. They thought they had righteous indignation on their side. They felt virtuous in their behaviors....on the outside. Inside, they were working every angle they could think of to trap Jesus. And while they maintained righteous indignation, their behavior was unrighteous.

Jesus saw through that...he always did. So he called them on it—not their hidden agenda—but on their own sin. Instead of making a big production about it—like they did—he quietly asked them to look inside their own hearts and determine any sin they had. Do you see the Love First response of Christ there? He didn't try to humiliate or shame these hypocrites. Instead, he asked them to examine their own hearts and lives...and if they didn't have any sin, then they could go ahead and stone her. Beginning with the oldest (and isn't that a telling thing?), they dropped their stones and left, until only Jesus and the woman remained.

How did the woman benefit by Jesus’ Love First actions? She knew she had sinned...and knew that, according to the Law, she could be punished. Jesus made a teaching moment for both the religious hypocrites and the sinful woman. How do you think the religious leaders benefited? What about any bystander—they were in the temple courts, after all? Love First responses benefit more than just the direct recipient.

Your Mission
Pray for God to help you rid yourself of any hypocrisy in your heart and in your lifestyle. He loves you and wants you—the real, imperfect you.

Day 7 - Love First: Beyond Rejection

Love First: Beyond Rejection

After this, Jesus went around in Galilee. He did not want to go about in Judea because the Jewish leaders there were looking for a way to kill him. But when the Jewish Festival of Tabernacles was near, Jesus’ brothers said to him, “Leave Galilee and go to Judea, so that your disciples there may see the works you do. No one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret. Since you are doing these things, show yourself to the world.” For even his own brothers did not believe in him.

Therefore Jesus told them, “My time is not yet here; for you any time will do. The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify that its works are evil. You go to the festival. I am not going up to this festival, because my time has not yet fully come.” After he had said this, he stayed in Galilee.

However, after his brothers had left for the festival, he went also, not publicly, but in secret. Now at the festival the Jewish leaders were watching for Jesus and asking, “Where is he?”

Among the crowds there was widespread whispering about him. Some said, “He is a good man.”

Others replied, “No, he deceives the people.” But no one would say anything publicly about him for fear of the leaders.

Not until halfway through the festival did Jesus go up to the temple courts and begin to teach. The Jews there were amazed and asked, “How did this man get such learning without having been taught?”

Jesus answered, “My teaching is not my own. It comes from the one who sent me. Anyone who chooses to do the will of God will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own.
John 7:1-17

There’s no other way to put it—Jesus was rejected by his brothers. They didn't believe in him. They didn't believe he was the Messiah. (They later realized he was the Messiah, and it changed their witness.) They even suggested that he walk into danger just to prove himself.

Jesus took this rejection amazingly well. He was so focused on the mission that God had entrusted to him that he was able to go on in spite of the rejection. Don’t you wish you were that strong when it came to dealing with the challenges surrounding rejection? He didn't let their opinions of him keep him from doing what he needed to do. His Love First response to them was to not let them defeat him. He stood up for what he knew was the right thing to do. He knew that to let them harass him into going up openly to the Feast of the Tabernacles was to put others—new believers—in danger of being excommunicated from the synagogue.

So, after his brothers left for the Feast, Jesus went secretly. And, to no one’s surprise, Jesus was the topic of many whispered conversations. And, like most whispered conversations, opinions varied. People were afraid. And doesn't fear hamper our witness?

Finally, halfway through the week-long Feast, Jesus showed up at the temple, teaching openly and with authority. The Jews were amazed and questioned how he could know so much without having studied. He answered them directly by telling them that his teaching was from the One who had sent him. He reminded them that choosing to do God’s will would reassure them that the teaching came from God.

Taking his Love First mission seriously, Jesus not only overcame the rejection of his brothers, he also taught people in the temple and confronted them about rejecting others. Sometimes Love First is tough love. But it is always loving. And its benefits are boundless. Many people were led to believe by Jesus’ decision not to let rejection keep him from doing God’s will.

Your Mission
Use the phrase “I can do all things through you, Lord; you strengthen me” in your prayers today. Allow him to strengthen you.