Leawood, Kansas, United States - The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection Daily Guide grow. pray. study. for Saturday, 5 July 2014 "Loving God, loving our neighbors"Daily Scripture: Matthew 22:34 But the Pharisees, when they heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, gathered themselves together. 35 One of them, a lawyer, asked him a question, testing him. 36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law?”
37 Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’[Matthew 22:37 Deuteronomy 6:5] 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 A second likewise is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’[Matthew 22:39 Leviticus 19:18] 40 The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”
Reflection Question:
One of the most visible features of Resurrection is the congregation's size. But our mission statement is not to "be big," but to be a place where people are becoming deeply committed Christians. As Jesus said when a legal expert asked him about the Greatest Commandment, loving God with all our heart, soul, and mind leads us to love our neighbors as ourselves. When we love our neighbors as ourselves, we show the love of Christ to those around us. Love is contagious and God wants us to show it to all we know. So our hope and prayer is that our church has grown numerically because of the way God ignites our hearts by His love.
Novelist Paulo Coelho once said, "One is loved because one is loved. No reason is needed for loving." Loving your neighbor as yourself can be challenging. God calls us to love others the way God loves us—unconditionally. Loving our neighbors as ourselves means showing unwarranted love with no hesitation. What has stopped you from loving someone relentlessly today? How can you love them unconditionally tomorrow?
Family Activity:
Transforming the world is a huge calling from Jesus. Your family might help fulfill this calling in distant ways (e.g. sponsor a child from another country, go on a mission trip, donate to a food drive, give blood, or walk in Sacred Steps). But even the simplest of personal acts can show someone you care. How can you love your neighbor today? Have your family write notes of gratitude to tape on their front doors. Write your neighbors to let them know you're thinking about them, you're thankful for them, and you love them always. You can even leave some goodies on their front porch! Thank God for the chance to love those who are close to you, and for being able to serve Him by loving others.
Today's Prayer:
Gracious God, thank you for loving me unconditionally. Help me to recognize the moments in my life when I can relentlessly love those around me. Amen.
Insight from Steven Blair
(Due to the holiday weekend schedule, Lori Trupp was unable to write. We’re providing you this reflection which Rev. Steven Blair wrote last August on today’s passage.)In 1988 M. Scott Peck wrote The Road Less Traveled, which stayed on the New York Times Bestseller list for about 100 years. I read this book in college and was drawn to its definition of love.
“Love is the will to extend one’s self for the purpose of nurturing one’s own or another’s spiritual growth… Love is as love does. Love is an act of will — namely, both an intention and an action. Will also implies choice. We do not have to love. We choose to love.”(M. Scott Peck)
Jesus asked about the greatest commandment and he 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.” – Jesus (Matthew 22:37-40)
If you take Scott Peck on one hand and Jesus in the other, what does love look like?
Love is a gift you give someone for their benefit, not so that they will love, respect, accept you back in return. Codependency is doing good deeds to fill our own emotional needs. The love Jesus described requires that we review the motivations behind our act. One way we can review our motivations is by noticing if any bitterness creeps in when the other person fails to respond the way we wanted.
Love is a choice made in freedom. If we do not feel like we have the choice to say “No” then our “Yes” does not really mean “Yes.” The love Jesus described requires that we examine whether we are free to choose to love.
Love is an action. Jesus did not say “Go and feel warm feelings about thy neighbor and about God.” The love Jesus described requires that we ‘Do.’
Last week Resurrection hosted the Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit via satellite. The Summit was filled with wonderful speakers including a man named Bob Goff. Bob Goff is a Christian lawyer in San Diego and an author. Bob Goff makes Bob Ross look like Eeyore. Disney Land calls any time with Bob Goff as “The Happiest Place on Earth.” Following his talk, I visited YouTube and found that he has recently authored a book called “Love Does.” The below clips include Bob talking about how he included his own personal cell phone number in the book and a phenomenal story of a Uganda boy.
As Jesus talks about loving God and loving others it is important that we view his words as a command instead of a suggestion. It is important that we examine our motivations and whether we are in a relationship marked by freedom. It may be even more important that we see Love as an Action that we get to do. Love Does.
I invite you to view the following videos or anything else with Bob Goff’s name on it. Your capacity and desire to love incessantly will grow until you see Jesus’ words as the most joyful command anyone could ever give.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaPZGM9ksvM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDHv2__A274
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lo1jHeIn3TE
and so on.
Go and extend yourself for another person’s benefit. Love Does.
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