Love God, Your Neighbour, and Yourself By Sharon Espeseth

Who Is Testing Whom?

"Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" the law expert asked to test Jesus.

"What is written in the Law?" Jesus asked. "How do you read it?"

Confidently the man responded, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and love your neighbour as yourself."

"You have answered correctly," Jesus responded.
"Do this and you will live."

Testing the Master further, the man asked, "And who is my neighbour?"

Jesus told the story of the Good Samaritan who helped the man beaten, robbed, and left for dead. The priest didn't help the man. Nor did the Levite. But the Samaritan did. Samaritans, considered pagans or "half-Jews," were held in contempt by the Jews.

Jesus asked the law-abiding Jew, which of the three men would he consider a neighbour to the robbers' victim. "The one who showed mercy," the man answered.

"Go and do likewise," Jesus answered. (Luke 10: 25-37)

Go and Do Likewise

That's what Jesus asks us to do, even if doing so is uncomfortable. We are to show mercy to people in need, be that physical, emotional, spiritual, or financial. Jesus warned that there's nothing outstanding about loving those who love us; the challenge comes when that person is unkind, unreasonable, or unsavoury. Jesus asks us to love our enemies and pray for those who don't treat us well.

This kind of loving is difficult and God is well aware of that. Discussing the topic of "Christian Perfection" in My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers clarifies that Christian perfection is different than human perfection. (December 2) In this devotion, he explains that if we strive on our own to attain that kind of perfection, our efforts will all be to our own glory. Then a person might think, If I could be so loving and perfect, I don't need God.

". . . Love your neighbour as yourself."

Looking in the Concordance of my NIV Bible, I find the phrase, " . . . love your neighbour as yourself" in six books of the Bible: once in Leviticus and five times in the New Testament. Important concepts bear repeating. We know God wasn't encouraging us to love ourselves in a proud, self-absorbed way.

In the Beatitudes (Matthew 5), Jesus shares ideas of how we should be in the world. Life will not always be "rosy," but God will bless us even, or especially, in adversity. Because this chapter is familiar to us, we often read it quickly. I recently read the passage in Eugene Peterson's The Message. Here the words jumped off the page, so I read and reread this portion prayerfully over several days.

Blessings on the Poor in Spirit

Even as Christians, we can berate ourselves for not being patient enough, smart enough, courageous enough, talented . . . Most of us have been poor in spirit at times in our lives. Peterson, a Greek scholar and theologian, paraphrases Christ's words, "You're blessed when you're at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule."

What does it mean to be meek? For this verse, Peterson says, "You're blessed when you're content with just who you are--no more, no less. That's the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can't be bought."

If these verses comfort you, read The Beatitudes in The Message online. If we can learn to accept ourselves for who we are and do for God what we can, we'll realize we don't have to go around apologizing and hiding our real selves. 

Oswald Chambers says, "God's purpose is not to perfect me to make me a trophy in His showcase; He is getting me to the place where He can use me. Let Him do what He wants." That's what I can do: spend more time with my loving Creator, read His Word, and let Him guide me.




Prayer: Here I am, Lord. I come to do your will.

A Valentine Letter to My Lord by Shirley S. Tye

Dear Jesus:

Love is in the air. Well, I guess it’s out there; it certainly isn’t in me of late. I haven’t been bearing all things or enduring all things very well. Instead of kisses, there are complaints on my lips. There isn’t any kindness in me, only anger, irritability, short temperedness. Many things provoke me; get under my skin like a bad rash.

I could give several excuses for my attitude and behaviour: I’m tired, no, exhausted is more like it; I’m not well; doctors aren’t moving fast enough to help me – oh, yeah, I know there are others more ill than me and must be attended to first. My new career as a psychotherapist isn’t taking off on a run as I thought it would (was I wrong when I thought You called me). I’m carrying a burdensome debt because of the education to get this worthless piece of paper that says 'Master’s Degree' – big fat hurry deal!  Now I’m working as a spare school bus driver (backup driver for those who can’t make it to work) and I’ve discovered there are many drivers taking time off – so, I’m up at 5:00 am and on the job by 6:30 am, filling in for someone five days a week – a different route, a different bus each week sometimes two or three different routes and buses in one week; in between driving, I race to my office to counsel a client who can’t pay, so I drive to pay the office rent, liability insurance, and memberships to keep my professional status – to be creditable.

I changed careers at the age of sixty-one! What was I thinking?

Regardless of how I’m feeling, you, Lord still love me. It is your love that sustains me. You never give up on me. You are always there for me. You patiently listen to my complaints then slip your loving arms around me drawing me close to you and whisper encouraging words in my ear. Forgive my complaining, my unthankfulness, and my insufficient communion with you. Jesus, you are all I need. I love You!

Your complaining rebellious little child,
Shirley

Love Keeps Going To The End by Ruth L. Snyder

 I am very familiar with the "love chapter" - I Corinthians 13. I've heard sermons about it, I've read it, and I've also memorized it. Do I live by it?

Most people see me as a very patient person. I have a confession to make. Sometimes I'm VERY impatient, especially with my children. It's easy to "love" my children when they are obedient. Who doesn't appreciate a child who is helpful, does what you say, and tells you he or she loves you? Sometimes my children are like that, but often they are not. What happens when I've told my child to pick up her toys and she looks at me and stomps her foot? What about a son who chooses to eat cookies half an hour before supper, even though I told him to wait? How do I deal with a child who uses urine and feces to "get even" with me?

1 Corinthians 13 tells me that love NEVER fails. Love keeps going to the end. Obviously, my human love DOES fail. I run out of steam. I get frustrated and angry. I feel upset. I don't feel like hugging my child and telling him I love him. I don't feel like being consistent. I don't feel like staying calm.

That's where God's love steps in - true love that never ends. Love is a choice, not a feeling. I may feel upset that my daughter is refusing to clean up, but I can firmly remind her what's expected and count down to encourage her to be obedient. I may feel frustrated that my son ate the cookies, but I can repeat what I expect and give him a logical consequence - no dessert. I may feel angry that my son has soiled himself, the second time today, but I can choose to quietly tell him to have a bath and clean his clothes. Along with being consistent and responding appropriately, I can choose to tell my child I love him or her.

I want my children to grow up knowing that I love them. I want them to know that no matter what they do, or what they say, I will always love them. God does not base His love for us on our obedience, so neither should I. There may be tears. I may have to give myself a time-out. I will definitely have to choose to forgive. But in the end, with God's help, I will choose to love my children to the end.

What about you? Which one of the characteristics of love do you struggle with and how are you allowing God to change you?

Check out more of Ruth's writing at http://ruthlsnyder.com

Your Secret Admirer– by Ramona Heikel

I love the tradition of giving Valentines, and was delighted in elementary school when we celebrated Valentine’s Day. What a sweet way of confirming your special friendship and love to particular people in your class. It was so exciting to know that a classmate liked you well enough to make you a red construction-paper heart—maybe even adding a white lace doily—with their handwritten message on the back. Of course, since it was heartbreaking for some students to receive fewer cards than most (or no cards), compassionate teachers started requiring that you gave a Valentine to everyone. But even then, you could reserve your biggest or best Valentine for your favorite friends.

Then came the idea of signing the card as “Your Secret Admirer”. Ooh, how exciting! If someone didn’t want to sign their name, they surely must have extra-strong feelings of love that went beyond friendship. I remember how disappointed I was when Bruce, a boy I had a crush on, signed his name “From Bruce” on his valentine to me. Don’t get me wrong, I was glad to get an unforced store-bought card from him, because at least he considered me one of his many friends. But if I’d gotten a card from a Secret Admirer, I would have hoped that it had been from Bruce, and been thrilled at the possibility that I was significant to him.

Lately I have been noticing in the Old Testament how deep and constant God’s love is for the nation of Israel, no matter how often they ignore and reject him. I am reminded that there was a time that I wasn’t aware of God or his love. I was fifteen when I heard the message that God loved me. Before that, I believed that God loved “the world” as one big round object, with all of our faces blurred, and him not knowing or caring what our names were. This new revelation, that the far away creator of the universe knew me, and wanted me to know him personally, changed everything.

As I got older I began to see how even before I was aware of him, he was giving me gifts, Valentines signed “Your Secret Admirer”. One example of his gifts is my best friend, who I got to know in fourth grade. From then on, she has been my constant, loyal friend, and I now realize she was also my assurance that I was loved, and lovable through many confusing, bleak years. It wasn’t until tenth grade that we both heard the gospel at a high school Campus Life meeting and put our faith in Jesus. Yet during all those previous years, God was giving us little Valentine reminders of his desire to walk with us.

You have a secret admirer, too. And if he’s not so secret and you already know who he is, do you realize that he is your admirer, your friend who loves you constantly? Or do you feel, like I did, that you’re just a nameless, faceless, insignificant part of a big world that God loves? Or that his favorite hobby is catching you failing and sinning? Consider how God spoke about his admiration of Job in Job 1:8; think about the individualized “whoever” in John 3:16; look at his longing to always be with us wherever he is, in John 14:1-3; and read the scriptures that talk about his love, how he first loved us, in 1 John 4:7-19.


(These are Valentines from Bruce and another friend Katie from my grade school scrapbook.)


Posted by Ramona
www.happilywriting.com