Leawood, Kansas, United States - The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection Daily Guide grow. pray. study. for Thursday, 6 November 2014 "The fruit of loving your neighbor"

Leawood, Kansas, United States - The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection Daily Guide grow. pray. study. for Thursday, 6 November 2014 "The fruit of loving your neighbor"
Daily Scripture:  James 2:8-11 You do well when you complete the Royal Rule of the Scriptures: “Love others as you love yourself.” But if you play up to these so-called important people, you go against the Rule and stand convicted by it. You can’t pick and choose in these things, specializing in keeping one or two things in God’s law and ignoring others. The same God who said, “Don’t commit adultery,” also said, “Don’t murder.” If you don’t commit adultery but go ahead and murder, do you think your non-adultery will cancel out your murder? No, you’re a murderer, period.
12-13 Talk and act like a person expecting to be judged by the Rule that sets us free. For if you refuse to act kindly, you can hardly expect to be treated kindly. Kind mercy wins over harsh judgment every time.
Faith in Action
14-17 Dear friends, do you think you’ll get anywhere in this if you learn all the right words but never do anything? Does merely talking about faith indicate that a person really has it? For instance, you come upon an old friend dressed in rags and half-starved and say, “Good morning, friend! Be clothed in Christ! Be filled with the Holy Spirit!” and walk off without providing so much as a coat or a cup of soup—where does that get you? Isn’t it obvious that God-talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense?
Reflection Questions:
During his life on earth, Jesus was often censured for showing mercy (e.g. Luke 5:30, Luke 15:2). Jesus' brother James saw that same merciless spirit showing up in some early Christian churches. The lack of love produced both judgment toward others' weakness, and an unwillingness to actively help suffering, struggling people. James evoked his brother's teaching in Matthew 7, saying our attitude and actions reveal our inner reality. In the end, in God's world, mercy triumphs over judgment.
James called the command to love your neighbor as yourself (originally from Leviticus 19:18) a "royal law." When has mercy had to overrule judgment in order for you to live up to that law, and love particular, perhaps hard-to-love people as your neighbor? In what ways does relating to others with mercy rather than condemnation create greater freedom for you? For them?
James didn't describe a good "balance" between faith and works, as though we need a 50/50 mix of the two. We need 100% of both—our actions grow out of our faith, as a grateful response to God's gracious acceptance of us. What are some of the actions, the works, which you have seen grow in your life as you respond to God's grace?
Today's Prayer:
Lord, when I'm honest with myself, I know I need your mercy and grace. When you call me to offer mercy and grace to people I don't like or approve of, well, that's tougher. Keep growing a loving, merciful heart in me. Amen.
Insight from Darren Lippe
Darren Lippe helps facilitate Journey 101 “Loving God” classes, guides a 7th-grade Sunday school class, is a member of a small group & a men’s group, and serves on the Curriculum team.
I spent 2 summers during college working as Facilities Manager for the Historic Ward-Meade Home & Botanical Gardens in Topeka, Kansas. (Little Known Trivia: “Facilities Manager” is actually Latin for “he who gets ground-in wedding cake icing out of carpet.”)

Part of my job description was to set-up/clean-up for weddings (typically 5 per weekend) hosted on our 2.5 acres of gardens & accompanying facilities. Needless to say, I’ve heard “The Wedding Song” (aka, “There is Love”) accompanied by everything from the accordion to the zither.
Unfortunately, even being a devotee’ of Dale Carnegie was poor preparation for telling a Mother-of-the-Bride that “due to lightning in the area, we will need to move Kelli-with-an-i’s wedding from the picturesque Rose Garden area to our tastefully decorated Multi-Purpose Room.” Sigh. What one endured for $3.95/hour + 2 free T-Shirts.
Aside: On the other hand, I did enjoy watching the wedding of two more seasoned citizens when the groom joked that, “If you still need to buy our wedding gifts, we are registered at the Jayhawk Pharmacy.”
With this heritage, I began reading today’s parable with some trepidation. At first glance, we might be tempted to view Jesus’ tale as being somewhat far-fetched: The groom announcing the beginning of the wedding at a moments notice? Bridesmaids needing extra oil to keep their lamps lit? 10 Bridesmaids?
Aside: That would seemingly mean 10 groomsmen as well – apparently weddings must always be symmetrical. After you pick your brother, 4-5 best friends from high school/college, etc., how do you get to 10 groomsmen? I’d guess you’d have to resort to filling in with guys from your fantasy football league – even those guys you have never personally met with the team names, “Somewhere Over the Dwayne Bowe” & “No Punt Intended.”
However, remember Jesus liked to use scenes from everyday life to help illustrate His point. His audience would have readily related to the spontaneity of the start of the wedding celebration, the picture of the foolish bridesmaids frantically trying to make up for their lack of preparation, and the groom ultimately excluding the imprudent women from the festivities.
Lest we get bogged down in the ins/outs of Middle Eastern wedding customs, we need to stay focused (Amen! – Editor) on Jesus’ larger point: Will the groom/God know us?
In a Disciple class, we had a great discussion on the merits of the “deathbed conversion.” Some initially felt it was akin to playing a “get out of jail free” card at the last second & questioned the sincerity of such a transformation. But we also recognized that we are saved by faith alone (not works) and we were reminded that Jesus offered salvation to the thief hanging beside Him on the cross.
Interestingly, a pastor who has preached the Gospel to persons near death noted that two emotions seem prevalent:
Relief – The realization that one is saved for eternity
Regret – Why didn’t I do this sooner so I could have really lived my life to the fullest?
Today might just be the day to begin getting to know God more fully so we can rest easy in our salvation AND not miss another moment of living a life of love, joy, & peace.
With vintage wedding songs on the mind, I offer this conclusion: God accepts you Just The Way You Are, but loves you too much to let you stay that way. He has loved you from The First Time He Ever Saw Your Face and has adored you Longer than you can imagine. So go ahead promise Him that you’ll Be There & be Hopelessly Devoted to Him, so He can Light Up Your Life.   (Stop! – In the Name of Love – Editor.)
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