Love: Easier Said Than Done!

Values are those qualities, principles or standards that are important and influence us as people and organizations.  All of us have them, although we may not be able to clearly articulate them. Most of us hold are values without really thinking about them.  They have become part of us through the people who influence us, the things we read, study and believe, our experiences, and so on. At CrossPointe we have intentionally considered the values that we hold as a church, and which we believe are most important to us. The first of these is “love,” which is the heart of the two great commandments.

Digging Deeper

1.  Read again Matthew 22:36-40.  Is it possible to love the Lord with ALL your heart?  Why or why not? What does 1 Peter 1:22-25 say with respect to loving one another? (Hint why does he say “For you…” in verse 23?). If we love the Lord with all our heart what does that look like? Is it intellectual, emotional, volitional (what we think, what we feel, what we choose to do) or some combination of those? How does Joshua 22:5 help us answer that question?

2.  In each of the following passages we are given specific descriptions of what it means and what it looks like to love one another. As you read them, see if you can identify them from each verse.  Galatians 5:13-14; Romans 12:10; John 13:34;  Ephesians 4:2; Romans 13:8-9; Hebrews 10:24; 1 Peter 3:8; 1 Peter 5:14. Can you give a specific example of how you might demonstrate that principle in your life, loving those around you?  Which of these is hardest for you to do? Why?

3.  Which of the two great commandments Jesus gave is most important?  Why? Can you do one without doing the other? Why or why not? Which of those two do you struggle with the most? How could that change – how could you get better at either loving God or loving your neighbor? (Hint: Read Matthew 19:23-26). Will you commit to pray daily for one week, asking God to increase either (or both) your love for God or your love for your neighbor?

(Mat 22:36-40 NIV)  "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" {37} Jesus replied: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' {38} This is the first and greatest commandment. {39} And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' {40} All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

(Deu 30:6 NIV)  The LORD your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live.

(Josh 22:5 NIV)  But be very careful to keep the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the LORD gave you: to love the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to obey his commands, to hold fast to him and to serve him with all your heart and all your soul."

(Gen 31:22-23 NIV)  On the third day Laban was told that Jacob had fled. {23} Taking his relatives with him, he pursued Jacob for seven days and caught up with him in the hill country of Gilead.

(1 John 4:7-11 NIV)  Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. {8} Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. {9} This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. {10} This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. {11} Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

(1 Peter 1:22-23 NIV)  Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart. {23} For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.
 

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