Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Love Me, Love Me Not 3



Hello Everyone,
Love Him Intelligently – "with all your mind"

This statement helps us avoid extremes. It keeps us balanced.
Emotion must be balanced with truth
Experience should never take priority over the Word of God.
We must be governed by the facts of God’s Word.
Devotion must be guided by Scripture

Jesus is reminding us that we are to love God the same way He loves us.

We can’t respond to God’s whole-hearted love in a half-hearted way. We are to love Him with ALL the heart, ALL the soul, ALL the strength, and ALL the mind.

I think Jesus is also telling us that until you love God as you should, you will never love others as you could.

Love for Others

The Principle

If I were to ask you how you are to love your neighbor, probably all of us could give the right answer: you are to love your neighbor as you love yourself. Great, but what does it mean?

Let’s keep it simple. Loving your neighbor means that you do for him whatever you would do for yourself.
• When you have a need, you attempt to meet it.
• When you have a hurt, you attempt to heal it.
• When you have a responsibility, you attempt to fulfill it.
• When you have a prayer request, you pray for it!

We don’t have to be taught how to love ourselves. It comes naturally. We are experts at it. The trick is to keep self-love from becoming selfishness.

Best example of this is the Parable of The Good Samaritan Luke 10:25-37

This is one of the most familiar parables in the Bible. It doesn’t need a lot of explanation.

We learn from this parable that your neighbor is ANYONE who needs help
 
The parable begins with just a certain man. A lot of things we consider important are not mentioned.

We are not given his name or his standing in society.
As far as we know, he could have been a thief who fell victim to other thieves!

The only thing we know about him is that circumstances left him alone and in need.

Let me ask a couple of questions.
  • Do you find yourself judging the worth of a man before you decide whether you are going to help him?
  • Do you only feel comfortable helping those who are just like you?
  • Do you let the color of their skin, the length of their hair or the styles of their clothes determine if you will love as you love yourself?

Greater Things Are Still To Come! 

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