So what is the connection between loving God and loving our neighbour? If there is real love of God, there will be love for ourselves, and love for our neighbour.

See how complete Jesus reminds us this love for God is meant to be: all our heart, soul and mind.

We are so often tempted to hold something back. We want to love ourselves on our own terms – to love ourselves fully, like we should love God. But that would lead to a world full of Gods, and how would that work out?

Or we are tempted to put these two loves in opposition. I can either be good, ethical, and law-abiding to love God, or I can just love people. The problem with this is that true love of our neighbour flows from the love ofGod. Our love for God leads to love of our neighbours, which leads us to want to act right toward them. Without love for God, and an experience of his love, we each have to define love for ourselves, and we all have different ideas about what love is!

We’ll see tomorrow how Jesus’ self-giving love sets the pattern for our love, while freeing us from the traps of loving ourselves first, trying to use others to earn our salvation, or any other attempt to manipulate God or others.

Question: Define love.

Ryan Sim - July 8, 2013

Monday - A New Idea - Foundations

In 2009, an entire 13 storey building toppled over in China, killing a construction worker, and leaving homeless hundreds of new tenants who thought they were about to move in to a brand new building. What’s striking about the images is that the building looks modern. It’s not visibly dilapidated. The contractors did all the visible parts right, but cheated on the invisible foundation underneath it all. It was eventually visible to everyone, as the beautiful building on top crashed to the ground destroying lives. You can find the story and pictures here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/5685963/Nine-held-over-Shanghai-building-collapse.html The foundation is critical. One architectural web site I visited reminded me that a good foundation carries the load of the building above, including its people furnishings, furniture and more. IF it’s plumb and level, all the other building materials can be, as well. And that makes the tradespeople happy. They summed it up: the foundation is the most important work and the basis of everything that comes after. This is true in life, as well as architecture. Question: What is the most important thing in life? Did you choose this? Why?

From Series: "Sermon on the Mount"

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