Week 5: Luke 10:27
May 1, 2017 - Prayer Warriors
27 He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.”
Discussion
Step 1: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind.” That means choosing to love God. Choosing to talk to Him instead of doing something else like watching TV, playing a game or hiding in a book. Choosing to seek His will and not your own in every action. Choosing to follow where He leads you even if you are afraid. Let your desire for His closeness and His will in your life overflow into every part of you. Ask God to be the core of who you are.
Step 2: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” There is that word again, ‘Love”. How do you love another? Whole books have been written to explore this one, but in short, start by caring for another the way you would care for yourself. Feed them. Clothe them. Keep them safe. Do not antagonize them.
Ok, so let’s look at those around us then. It is easy to like and care for the people who like us and who are nice to us. However, what about those who annoy us? What about those who go out of their way to do us wrong? Jesus tell us in Luke 6: 27-36:
27 “But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. 29 If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. 30 Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. 31 Do to others as you would have them do to you.
32 “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. 34 And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. 35 But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. 36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”
In short, be nice even when other are not nice. Be nice, even when it is tough. Encourage others even when they reject you. Take time to notice when someone does something well and tell them. Pray for those who love you and those who hate you, because God is still speaking things into being. Remember what CS Lewis states in The Weight of Glory, “there are no normal people”. All people are eternal because their souls are eternal. What you do to them and for them today, may change the place their soul resides forever.
Prayer
That we may become strong in our love of God and others as in Luke 10:27.