At the start of this new year, I was challenged to pick "Just One Word". A word that will give the year focus. This "one word" idea made sense to me. In the stressed out, distracted world we live in, it is hard to stick to or even remember my resolutions...but hopefully I can remember and come back to ONE WORD.
So I put a bit a pressure on myself to chose a creative, out-of-the-ordinary word. Something new and thought-provoking. But God just kept planting the word "LOVE" into my mind. A simple, over-used word. But yet....not simple at all.
What does it really look like to LOVE WELL...to LOVE MORE...to LOVE BETTER. How am I loving God? Am I fully loving my family, my friends, my neighbors, my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ? Am I showing love to strangers, to those who annoy me, to those who I believe are wrong, to those who have wronged me, to my enemies? Is LOVE the first filter through which I react to those around me?
But yet -- that's the root of the entire Christian life, is it not? Do others "know I am Christian by my love"?
So in my efforts to LOVE FIRST this year, I plan to type out different Bible verses every day (or, more realistically, on a semi-regular basis) on my blog that talk about LOVE. Verses that will keep my heart convicted about how God calls us to love. I wonder what this world would look like if Christians truly LOVED others before all else?
I love this quote from Mother Teresa..."If you judge people, you have no time to love them."
So I start with the first and greatest commandment and the second which is like it...
Matthew 22: 36-40
So I put a bit a pressure on myself to chose a creative, out-of-the-ordinary word. Something new and thought-provoking. But God just kept planting the word "LOVE" into my mind. A simple, over-used word. But yet....not simple at all.
What does it really look like to LOVE WELL...to LOVE MORE...to LOVE BETTER. How am I loving God? Am I fully loving my family, my friends, my neighbors, my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ? Am I showing love to strangers, to those who annoy me, to those who I believe are wrong, to those who have wronged me, to my enemies? Is LOVE the first filter through which I react to those around me?
But yet -- that's the root of the entire Christian life, is it not? Do others "know I am Christian by my love"?
So in my efforts to LOVE FIRST this year, I plan to type out different Bible verses every day (or, more realistically, on a semi-regular basis) on my blog that talk about LOVE. Verses that will keep my heart convicted about how God calls us to love. I wonder what this world would look like if Christians truly LOVED others before all else?
I love this quote from Mother Teresa..."If you judge people, you have no time to love them."
So I start with the first and greatest commandment and the second which is like it...
First Love Verse for 2013
Matthew 22: 36-40
36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
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