what matters to jesus | love

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Matthew 22:39, NIV
Love your neighbour as yourself

There is always a crowd. There are always onlookers. People who watch our lives. We may not know it but who we are can speak louder than what we say. Our values have a voice even when we’re silent.

Jesus knew this. He was always aware of the crowd. He ministered to the person in front of him, but he knew there were onlookers. And he lived and gave voice to the values of the Kingdom so everyone could understand more about the Father, more about themselves, and more about Jesus’ own purpose.

And I think if something matters to Jesus, it should matter to me, too. So I’ve identified five values Jesus shares with the crowd for us to look at over the next few months. Starting with love.

In Matthew 22:37-40 Jesus tells us the greatest commandments. He says, “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 neighbour as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Jesus effectively says, ‘Everything that has been written to date has pointed to me. And now I am here. I am going to establish the Kingdom you’ve been longing for. And I’m going to do by hanging it on two commandments that have one thing in common. The Kingdom I’m establishing is going to hang on love.’ And, of course Jesus literally does that; he establishes the Kingdom by hanging on the cross out of love.

Which means we can’t partner effectively with Jesus unless we love. Which is a sobering thought because - I don’t know about you - but some days I have to dig really deep to find a little bit of love. Some days I run out of it altogether. But, the good news is because God is love [1] and his power is working in us [2] we have access to all the love we need. [3] We don’t have to love out of our own limited, human resources. We can love like Jesus because his love compels us. [4]

The crowd around us will see our love and our love will point to Jesus.

Until next time

L x

[1] 1 John 4:8

[2] Ephesians 3:20

[3] Ephesians 3:20

[4] 2 Corinthians 5:14