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 - October 10, 2013

Thursday - Act On It - Partners To Friends

This week we’ve been exploring the story of Levi meeting Jesus, and having a big party with his former partners in crime, now his friends. Jesus’s transformative effect brings Levi’s colleagues into a new friendship with Levi first, then that friendship brings his friends into contact with Jesus. It’s no different today, this is very reason we held an outdoor movie night. We brought a bunch of people together over a great feast of popcorn. Our online users met one another, and made some new friends. This app and web site is meant to be more than a transaction, more than something to watch/listen to. It’s meant to bring us into community. It’s meant to be made up of real people, in real community with one another. Obviously movie nights and apps are large scale. But it depends on the small scale. It depends on people like you. You can be a Levi. At parties, people mingle and meet, and often discover things in common. So, have some people over to dinner, see what happens. It doesn’t have to be fancy. Or maybe have a hockey watching party, a playdate, a block party, whatever your scene is. Through that kind of party, I hope you and some people you know and work with, or have helped, will become friends, and friends can talk about what really matters. When followers of Jesus are present in the room and real deep things of life come up, I think that’s when Jesus enters the conversation, just like at Levi’s table. When he throws a great feast, his partners in crime learn the money grubbing tax collector actually isn’t driven by money anymore, but now he’s driven by love for Jesus, which makes him love them. Imagine the transformative effect on their lives. More than that, they just met a Jewish rabbi who will actually eat and drink with them, get to know them, love them, despite the risks, rather than standing outside and shaking his head. So, go and show your neighbours the same! Learn their names, stories, needs, and then become friends. Challenge: Plan a party, big or small! Please tell me the story, I’d love to hear how it goes.

Related Topics: Colleagues, Friends, Parties | More Messages from Ryan Sim | Download Audio

From Series: "Won't You Be My Neighbour?"

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