Jesus said, "'Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence.' This is most important thing, the first on any list. But there is a second command to set alongside it: 'Love others as well as you love yourself.' These two commands are pegs; everything in God's Law and the Prophets hangs from them." (Matt. 23:37-39, The Message)
Love God with all your heart (passion). Love God with all your prayer (soul). Love God with all of your intelligence. As transformed Christ followers we have a new nature affecting our passions, prayer, and thoughts. He leads … I follow. His ways. His thoughts. His passion. His love – loving others as myself.
Jesus assured us that God loves ALL – that includes loving me, and that includes loving those God puts in my circle of influence to love – my family, my co-workers, my church family, my friends, and my neighbors. Yes, even my relatives. Even when I don’t like them. Even when they're hard to love. Even when I am misunderstood. I am to love all of them as God loves me…and as God loves them.
Lord, help me to see those you have placed in my life through your eyes. Show me something you love about each of them. Please give me grace to listen to your voice as you tell me how to reach out to them… how to build them up … how to show them YOUR love.
PS, Today marks the half-way point through your year in Nicaragua! Thanking God for all you have accomplished so far, and anticipating what God will do in and through you in the next six months! Love, Mom
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