VISION TO LOVE PEOPLE

DAY 3 // VISION TO LOVE PEOPLE

PAUL JOHNSON – LIVING HOPE CHURCH IN ROCHESTER, MN

“The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Matthew 22:39 (CSB)

I don’t really love people very much… I am an introvert with a critical attitude that can be sarcastic… I am not the life of the party…

However, I know from numerous Bible passages that I’m supposed to care for those around me. This includes everyone from the homeless guy on the corner to the neighbor living next to me. This includes everyone from those in prison to the fatherless and widows. Then you get into all the verses for the church and see the direct commands to look out for them, guard them, sacrifice for them, be patient with them, and put their interests ahead of your own. It all piles up.

But, what if I don’t want to?

If I really don’t want to then I don’t want the things of God. It’s as simple as that.

Ok, so if I DO want the things of God. What now?

I need to cultivate a heart for people so that I really do care about those around me.

I cultivate this attitude through knowing the heart of God in His word. I read the verses. I memorize the verses. I meditate on the verses – rolling them around in my mind. I share the verses with other people. I return to the verses. I know God’s heart for people because I have made myself preoccupied with it.

“The Lord does not delay his promise, as some understand delay, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish but all to come to repentance.”

2 Peter 3:9 (CSB)

I also work on this attitude by praying about it. I ask God to melt my heart of stone and give me a heart of flesh so I can feel. I ask God for His attitude toward His lost sheep. I pray for emotional endurance to feel for people longer than I have in the past. I stretch my heart in prayer. I pray for people individually and have an app on my phone that reminds me each morning to pray for people.

“If my head were a flowing spring, my eyes a fountain of tears, I would weep day and night over the slain of my dear people.”

Jeremiah 9:1 (CSB)

Finally, I make myself be with people and listen to them. People are messy and it takes patience in order to connect with them. However, when I know what’s going on in their life I can feel empathy and put myself in their place. Doing this loops me back into the heart of God in His word and in prayer.

I have had to do this for a long, long time and I can tell you that it works.

I love people… I may not love them as much as I should, but I discipline myself to work toward it.

This is God’s heart for me as He makes me more like Himself.

This is God’s heart towards others as I get to be His hands, feet, and heart toward those that I run into every day.

God wants you to love people. Do it little by little and you will love more and more.

VISION TO BE HOLY

DAY 2 // VISION TO BE HOLY

TOM BIANG – GRACE CHURCH IN WEST LAFAYETTE, IN

“As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy.'”

1 Peter 1:14-16 (ESV)

Our culture is a doing culture. Often the ones who are the most productive and get the job done are also the most celebrated and rewarded in our jobs, government, and families. The mindset that our value comes from what we do has so influenced us as people that our churches are full of people who are great “doers” for God and His church, but often are far from His holiness in their thoughts and motives.

Holiness is the state of being set apart or separate from unclean or common things. God doesn’t tell us to “do holiness”, but His command is to BE holy. I’ve often read the above verse as “you need to work hard at pleasing God and obeying, and then you will be holy.” Recently I’ve been realizing that this is missing the point of what Peter was trying to say. Just as Jesus set an impossible standard for His disciples when He told them “You must be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect,” Peter’s admonition to be holy is beyond our grasp to accomplish in ourselves. It ultimately shows us how far we fall short and instead shows how our holiness is dependent on someone else; it is dependent on Jesus Christ

Before we knew Christ we were like the rest of the world; we were common, ordinary people stained by sin and dead in our spirit. No matter how hard a dead man might try, he will never be clean. But Christ, being rich in mercy toward sinners, came and poured out His blood on the cross to cleanse us from sin, and to make us creatures with completely different natures. He transformed us from being dead to having life. He changed us from being common to being set apart to be like Him. We are made new, and we are given the Spirit of God and the very righteousness of Christ.

Peter isn’t telling the saints to “work harder” to be holy. He is reminding them that through Christ they have already been made holy. We now need to rest in the finished work of Christ and live out the new nature God has already given us. What good news! The work is finished!

I encourage you right now to take 2 minutes to simply sit with God and “be” with Him. No doing; no anxiety. Just sit and enjoy His work for you through the Gospel. Then take a little time to ask yourself if your “holy conduct,” your obedience and works, are from a place of deep transformation and thankfulness or out of a striving to be something you are not yet. Ask God to help you see where you need to surrender and be transformed into the image of Christ. Remember that there isn’t essentially anything left to do in order to to be holy; it is “done” through the cross of Christ.

You are holy, so BE holy.

VISION TO LOVE GOD

DAY 1 // VISION TO LOVE GOD

RORY WHITNEY – CANDLEWOOD CHURCH IN OMAHA, NE

“Jesus replied, ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’”

– Matthew 22:7 (NLT)

As I sit at my desk and think about this devotional, “To Love God,” I think to myself, “WOW, what is it that I could say that would encourage anyone to grow in this area of their lives.” I thought about disciplines or practices that have helped me in staying focused on this area of my life over the last thirty-five years, so here goes. I believe to love God will require us to embrace all three of these areas every day of our lives.

HEART

When I think of my heart, I think about my emotions; that which separates me from the animal world. A simple practice that I have done with my wife and with my God is to say, “Good Morning, Good Night, and I Love You”. The Bible says that out of the heart the mouth speaks. I pray daily that I would love God more today than I did yesterday. My desire is to grow in this area of my life; to feel joy, grief, contentment, excitement, courage, peace, laughter, etc.

God wants us as His; to embrace our humanity and to experience all of this as we walk day by day with the Creator of the universe that loves us completely.

SOUL

When I think of your soul, I think of who you are. You are the only one ever created, there will never be a duplicate. God has entrusted us with gifts, talents, and passions. These attributes are unique to you and only you. How is someone to love God with all their soul? Eric Liddell was a missionary that could run like the wind. Before he went to China, he ran in the Olympics. As he was training, his sister became concerned that running was interfering with his work for God. Eric responded to her with a quote that I will never forget. He said this, “But Sister, when I run I feel the very pleasure of God.”

Here’s the answer to loving God with all your soul: discover your talents, gifts, & passions. Commit them to the Lord. Roll up your sleeves in your local church and give back to God all that you have been given and you, too, will feel “the very pleasure of God.”

MIND

What you think about is who you are and will continue to be. My experience in this area of my life is very simple. I will give you an example. In today’s political climate it is very easy to slowly and steadily gather bits of information that will eventually position you in a high tower and divide you from others. What would God want us to do? He would want us to trust Him, pray for our leaders, avoid private and public attacks, and act as aliens, sojourners, and pilgrims in the land; trusting and living for the next world.

Our mind is incredible. The battle lies in our thinking. What are you doing to transform the way you think? Transformation comes from replacing lies with the truth. Is God’s Word the source of your truth? Or is it Facebook, social media, CNN, MSNBC, Fox? The list goes on and on. It all affects the way you think.

To love God with all of your heart, soul and mind is something you need to practice
today, tomorrow, and everyday for the rest of your life.