Day 30 - Love First: What Does It Mean?

Love First: What Does It Mean?

My dear children, let’s not just talk about love; let’s practice real love. This is the only way we’ll know we’re living truly, living in God’s reality. It’s also the way to shut down debilitating self-criticism, even when there is something to it. For God is greater than our worried hearts and knows more about us than we do ourselves.
1 John 3:18-20 (The Message)

James Bryan Smith, in his Embracing the Love of God, wrote this profound thing: “God has created a world in which we are the ones who care for one another. To put it another way, God cares for us through one another.”

Francis Schaeffer, in his influential book The Mark of a Christian, wrote another profound thing: “Love—and the unity it attests to—is the mark Christ gave Christians to wear before the world. Only with this mark may the world know that Christians are indeed Christians and that Jesus was sent by the Father.”

Mother Teresa and her story of love for the poorest of the poor in India is well known. She observed the poorest people in India, she watched their lives, she observed their grief, she empathized with them, and she actively showed them the love of God. To her, love was only of use if it was put into and seen in action. She said things like: “Do ordinary things with extraordinary love...” and “You must give what will cost you something...”

She lived what she believed—love. She lived her calling and belief:

The fruit of silence is prayer.
The fruit of prayer is faith.
The fruit of faith is love.
The fruit of love is service.
The fruit of service is peace.

Love First demands action.

Your Mission
Make a sacrifice on behalf of another today. Do it without recognition, even if you have to do it anonymously.

Day 31 - And Then, There’s This...

And Then, There’s This...

“I will heal their waywardness and love them freely...”
Hosea 14:4(a)

A few months ago, we spent some time studying through the book of Hosea, and what we found there blew us away. We learned how Hosea told the entire nation of Israel that they needed to rethink their relationship with God. Up until that point, the relationship was along the lines of “I am your God; you are my people.” After Hosea, the relationship was more along the lines of “I am your Lover and I want you, Israel, for myself.” Prior to this, no one had dared to speak of God in those terms.

Scot McKnight says: “YHWH loves Israel the way a husband is to love his wife. Israel is to love YHWH with the same kind of love.” Hosea suggested to Israel that God had become heartsick over their unfaithfulness—much like a husband would feel over unfaithfulness in his wife. But in his heartsickness, YHWH pleaded with Israel to come back to him. We learned from Hosea that God loves his people. He loves them with a sacred love.

So when the Jesus Creed calls us to love God with everything we are—heart, soul, mind, and strength—we are called to form a love relationship with God that is totally sacred.

The term Abba is a personal and familiar form of “father” that implies the relationship of a much-loved child to their much-loved parent (see Romans 8:15 and Galatians 4:6). That’s the word that Jesus uses in the verses we are calling the Jesus Creed. That concept of Abba intensifies the significance of love. When we can put it together enough to understand our love for God as sacred and that he loves us with a sacred love, we come to want to honor that love with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.

That sacred love impacts every single thing we do and say. This love transforms our lives and calls for our “all” of everything. This sacred love becomes evident in our speech, our actions, and our worship. It embodies Love First.

Your Mission
Every time a negative thought comes to mind, or a negative word or deed arises, make yourself recite Hosea 14:4a.

Day 32 - More About The Jesus Creed

More About The Jesus Creed

Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

Jesus replied: “’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.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Matthew 22:34-40

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 strength.
Deuteronomy 6:4-5

Love your neighbor as yourself.
Leviticus 19:18(b)

One of the first things we notice when we read these verses is the question presented at the outset by the Pharisees: “Which is the greatest commandment?” Putting aside what we know about the way the religious leaders of Jesus’ time tried to trip him up over and over, notice what was actually being asked. The man—an expert in the law—asked a question concerning spiritual formation—in fact, this question addressed the very spiritual center of their faith.

What Jesus told the Pharisees hit them in a very personal way. As normal Jews (and certainly as religious leaders), their spiritual formation began with loving God with all their heart, soul, and strength. But in these verses, Jesus revises that command in these ways: loving others is added to loving God, and loving God is understood as following Jesus. It hits us in a very personal way, as well. Minister and author Rick Warren puts it like this: “Life minus love equals zero...The best use of life is love. The expression of love is time. The best time to love is now.”

Scot McKnight has used the phrase “Jesus Creed” to identify what Jesus told us to do for spiritual formation. The Jesus Creed is this: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all you mind. Love your neighbor as yourself.

Love First. It is what defines us.

Your Mission
In a global world, neighbor can mean a lot of things, but pray for the neighbors that live close to you and try to call them by name.

Day 33 - The Jesus Creed

The Jesus Creed

The terrorist attacks on 9/11/2001 changed our way of living and left us with many questions. Even if we could get satisfactory answers to our questions, our former way of life will never be restored. Never. Some of us now question things we would have calmly accepted in the past. That’s true in every arena. Things have changed dramatically in the religious landscape of America, as well, and we wonder if things will ever be the same as they used to. The answer is simple: They won’t.

But could things be better?

We have talked a great deal over the last few years about the concept of spiritual formation...with varying degrees of clarity. In his book The Jesus Creed, author Scot McKnight examines what it means to be spiritually formed.

It is simple.

It is profound.

Spiritual formation is about the love of God...and others. A spiritually formed person loves God and others. Spiritual formation begins with loving God...and loving others. Spiritual formation is about relationships—with God and with others.

Perhaps the Red Cross made the most notable and visible difference about loving and caring for others when they instituted a way to donate to disaster relief following the terrible earthquake and subsequent ruin of Haiti in 2010. All someone had to do to donate $10 to disaster relief for Haiti was to text the word “HAITI” to a short number on their mobile phone. The $10 was then added as a charge to their phone bill. How brilliant was that?! $43 million dollars was collected from mobile givers texting. Since then, for just about every natural disaster the world over, we can donate a small amount of money (small to us, perhaps, but HUGE for the effort) simply by texting a number on our mobile phone.

It wasn't the first time people gave generously to disaster relief. However, it changed who was doing the giving. It became up close and personal for a lot more people. Their hearts were pricked. They were motivated by love for mankind to do something.

Your Mission
If God asked you to love the unlovable, how would you begin? Do one thing to start seeing all people as God does, worthy of love.

Day 34 - Can We Agree on This?

Can We Agree on This?

Every question we have considered this week has the same theme. The answer is bound up in LOVE...why he died, the #1 commandment, why he came to Earth...

God’s vision for Jesus was to communicate this love to the world. Jesus faithfully lived under that vision. When we think of Jesus growing into his ministry...the entire journey was preparation for living out the vision God had for him.

We believe that God has a vision for his church...for this church family...and it is rooted in the vision God had for Jesus, his Son. It is the vision of Love. Love first. As his body, we live out his teachings and examples. But that means we must prepare to live under that vision of Love First.

There is a contemporary Christian song called “How He Loves,” written and performed by John Mark McMillan and covered by the David Crowder Band. Some of the lyrics include:

He is jealous for me,
Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree,
Bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy.
When all of a sudden,
I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory,
And I Realize just how beautiful You are,
And how great Your affections are for me.
And oh, how He loves us so,
Oh how He loves us,
How He loves us so.

The next few weeks will take us through what we need in order to live under Love First. It will be challenging, it may change our thoughts or actions, and there are spectacular benefits. What a gift awaits us as we strive toward God’s vision of Love First.

Your Mission
If love was the reason for living, how might your day look different? Try to live that way today in every way (conversation, traffic, etc.)

Day 35 - What Would You Say?

What Would You Say?

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. This is my command: Love each other.”
John 15:9-17

We would all agree that the journey to the cross and dying on the cross is certainly the unspeakable and inestimable sacrifice of Christ. If someone asked you why he did it—why did Christ die on the cross—what would you answer?

Think for a minute about all the songs you know or have heard that send the message that “love is the answer.” From early hymns to contemporary Christian songs, from Nat King Cole to Miguel and J. Cole, from the Beatles to Beyoncé...all sing songs that tell the message that love is what motivates all of us and is the answer to everything.

Do you believe that? What about that do you have trouble with? Do you live your life in that belief?

Would you agree that it is easier to love someone who loves you than it is to love someone who doesn’t care? What makes it easier? Does Jesus fit into that category for you?

Your Mission
“The opposite of love is not hate, but apathy.” Pray for a change in how you feel toward people who have wronged you.

Day 36 - What Do You Think?

What Do You Think?

Key Question:
If someone asked you what is absolutely the most important commandment (in Jesus’ eyes), what would you answer?

Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

Jesus replied: “‘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.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Matthew 22:34-40

I’m a people-watcher...and people can be pretty interesting! If you watch and observe people long enough, you will discover what is important to them, and it won’t take long. If you spend time in conversation with them, their values always surface. They talk about what is important to them. In fact, their bank account, photo albums, Facebook timeline, Twitter feed...pretty much everything revolves around what is important to them. And you realize, these are some of the ways you reveal your values and priorities to others.

There are material things that are important to us, but more importantly, we have spiritual values. We want to be “right with God.” We want to live in obedience to his commands and purposes. We want God’s priorities. Jesus makes it clear that God does consider some commands as more important than all the others.

In this section of Scripture, Jesus quotes from Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18. These two commandments are the building blocks—even the foundation—for all other commandments.

So let’s answer the key question:
If someone asked you what is absolutely the most important commandment (in Jesus’ eyes), what would you say?

Your Mission
Replace something important today in your routine (TV show, going to eat, etc.) with at least 30 minutes dedicated to serving God.