Summer Devotionals - wk 2

Our Summer Sermon Series and Summer Bible Reading Plan will walk together through some of the foundational practices and invitations of the Christian life: following Jesus, loving our neighbor, forgiveness, generosity, prayer, peace, community, gratitude, and more. This isn’t about adding more pressure or more “religious homework” to your life. It’s about creating just enough space for Jesus to meet us in the middle of our everyday lives.

Transcript

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This summer, our back to the basics Bible reading plan is not about us doing more. It's about us doing what matters most so that Jesus can shape us. Just a few readings each week, a few minutes each day, and an open heart with a desire to be shaped. This week, we're talking about the love of God. This past week, I had a chance to wake up before everyone in my home, which is not normal. Um, and as I was sitting downstairs having a cup of coffee, no emails to deal with, no sermon to write, just sitting for a few moments in the quiet of my home, I began to think about the four souls asleep upstairs. And for a moment I was I was humbled. I was I was radically shook and reminded of the power of presence. Jesus in this gospel of Matthew in the 22nd chapters, he's being accosted, he's being in he's being interviewed, if you will, by these Pharisees who just want him to get tripped up. And he's asked, What is the greatest commandment? And here's what Jesus says you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest commandment. And the second, and I imagine him saying as if he's interrupting that lawyer who had a rebuttal. And the second he says, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law of the prophets. Love, not perform, not hustle, not impress, but love. Faith is simply believing about God in love, receiving in love, sharing in love, learning to love God and receive God's love. And I wonder, I wonder, I wonder, what does loving God with all of you look like this week? What would it look like? To love this way. Maybe it's a prayer, maybe it's worship, maybe it's silence, maybe it's confession, maybe it's gratitude, maybe it's sitting in a place where you know you'll experience God's presence. Each week I'm asking you the same questions about the readings that were assigned. What did you notice in the readings? What is God inviting you into? What's one small step you can take this week? We're not trying to do more, we're trying to do what matters most. Last week Jesus said, Follow me. And this week we're reminded that there is a love that surpasses all understanding that is given to us. And then God believes that we are capable of sharing that love with the world that so desperately needs it. I hope you find yourself in a quiet morning reflecting on the same love that I reflected on, and I hope it moves you to action. Love and peace to y'all.