Scripture Reading:

Leviticus 19:18; 1 John 4:8; 1 John 2:15; Revelations 3:19; Ruth 1:16-17

Please comment below with your conversation with God and/or insights from today’s Scriptures.

You can answer the following:

1. What are the Scriptures telling you about love?

2. How have you experienced the love of God, if you have? What did you do in response?

3. What challenges do you face in regards to God’s mandate for us to love people?

4. What is your prayer to God regarding love?

Don’t forget to join us nightly at 7pm on FB.com/waterschurchnyc and join the conversation about the Scriptures and topic at hand.

Highest When Lowest | Lemuel Ayudtud

What’s the greatest of all the commandments? someone asked Jesus. He said, “Love God and love your neighbor as yourself.” You may ask, “Wait, those are two, maybe even three things!” Technically, yes, but in the Scriptures they’re one. (I’ll break this down further, but let me share these other things first.)

Another one of those “two but one” is found in the teachings of Solomon. Solomon wrote that the whole duty of man is to “fear God and obey His commandments”. Thousands of years later, the Apostle John wrote in his epistles the expounding of that thought when he said, “If you love God, you will obey His commandments.” When I read the writings of Solomon and the letters of John I go back to the teachings of Moses which Jesus summarized “love God and love your neighbor as yourself”.

What is love? Baby, don’t hurt me, don’t hurt me … no not that.

What is love? Paul outlines the characteristics of love in his letter to the Corinthians. He wrote that love is:

• Patient

• Kind

• Does not envy

• Not boastful

• Not proud

• Does not dishonor others

• Not self seeking

• Not easily angered

• Keeps no record of wrongs

• Doesn’t delight in evil

• Rejoiced with truth

• Always protects

• Always trusts

• Always hopes

• Always perseveres

• It never fails

Wow! That’s fairly expansive! And the “never fails” part is that love will always win. That no matter what may happen, if you and I choose love, then we’d always be on the winning side, even if it appears we are losing.

One may ask, “How can I love when people hurt me? How is that winning?” My answer is that it’s because you can never change the hearts of people. You can’t control people’s behaviors, thoughts and actions. You can’t control what they do to you or how they treat you. You can only control yourself. And when you reciprocate evil for evil, hurt for hurt, hate for hate, you deteriorate who you are and distance yourself from the will of God. Does this mean we should allow people to hurt us repeatedly or take advantage of us? Of course not. That’s not consistent with the command of God to love ourselves. It certainly is not how God treats us.

When we take the time to consider, the love of God is the greatest of all loves. He robed Himself in flesh so that He can breach the gap between our sins and Himself. And in this He didn’t and doesn’t wait for us to match up to His perfection. The reality is that God loved us while we were in sin. He died for us while we were estranged from Him. How is that? Because of Who He is rather and in spite of who we are. God IS love, He doesn’t just love.

Some understand love as reciprocal, meaning we love only when others love us. But true love is independent not dependent. For love to be love it cannot be based on someone else’s actions. It begins with who we are and how we love ourselves. And when we truly consider love, then our conversations about forgiveness and anger and how it affects us makes more sense: if we love ourselves, then we forgive and we release anger because those emotions and decisions affects the way we love. It’s THAT effect that destroys who we are. So the only recourse for hate is love. The only recourse for hurt is love. The only way to heal from the brokenness is to love.

Now let’s bring it back to my open, the commandment may look like two or even three, but it’s only one. When we love God, then that love extends to ourselves which extends to our neighbors. One is the effect on the other. If we love God, surely we will obey His words. If we love ourselves, then to preserve ourselves, we have to love others. There is no hating of others and loving of ourselves. There is no breaking God’s commandments when truly loving God. Of course we mess up. Of course we miss at times, but our pursuit of being obedient, is a result of love dictated by faith. Love is then the highest expression of the best of ourselves even and especially when people go low.

That’s how God loves. His love is the highest when people are at their lowest. He’s love is reflected in the mess and gruesomeness of Calvary to reflect the rancidness of our sins. We may see love as this beautiful thing, but love is not for the good times or the happy moments. Love is for the ugly, the dark and the trying times. It’s more a struggle up the hill of The Skull than it is a strut down a fashion runway.

Lord, whew, teach me to love! I’m not sure if my love for us is where it needs to be, so, Lord, help me to rely on You to lead me into Your love. Father, help me to take that love and wholly love myself. Teach me to forgive others. Lead me to be patient, kind, not be self seeking, not be proud, and all of what love is. Deepen my love for You so that I can be the person You have called me to be. In Your Name Jesus I pray, amen.