Who have you loved recently?
I asked the church this question earlier in the week. I thought it would be an appropriate question to ask here as well: Who have you loved recently?
And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 22:37-40 ESV)
So, who have you loved recently?
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35 ESV)
Who have you loved recently?
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. (1 Corinthians 13:1-3 ESV)
Who have you loved recently?
If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother. (1 John 4:20-21 ESV)
So, who have you loved recently?
Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God… (1 Peter 1:22-23 ESV)
Who have you loved recently?
Let brotherly love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body. (Hebrews 13:1-3 ESV)
Who have you loved recently?
By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. (1 John 3:16-18 ESV)
So, who have you loved recently?
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. (1 Corinthians 13:4-8 ESV)
Who have you loved recently?
I loved myself recently. 😉
Terrific post–and convicting!
Sometimes we focus on all the non-essentials and forget the simple yet profound because Love truly is the answer–we preach Christ crucified.
Amen and thanks Alan.
I think I felt love towards a bunch of students at my high school today. I did nothing different than usual, but I felt more love than usual, so that may be a start.
I’ve been a high school teacher for many years, walking through the crowded halls is nothing new. Sometimes I make an effort to smile and nod at the kids I know, just because I think it’s the right thing to do. Lately I’ve been struck by how much God loves us. Today as I walked the halls I was compelled to view all these teens the way God views them – with tonnes of love. I almost got emotional as I found myself giving out more smiles and nods than usual. 🙂
I am loving my wife. She has had her entire colon removed and she has also had a double radical mastectomy. She has completed her chemo infusions….praise God!!! I have spent all my retirement monies on her recovery and I told her that she better survive or I’ll kill her! She laughed…..because she knows I love her and would change places with her in a second!! I have now realized that building bridges for a living for 33 years was a piece of cake compared to taking care of a home!!!