Journal Entry ~ 06/16/18

If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," you are doing well. - James 2:8

We are told multiple times throughout scripture that the greatest commandments are to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength, and we are to love our neighbors as ourselves. There is nothing greater than this commandment. So, this means when we show partiality, we are violating this command because we are not showing God’s love to others. 

It’s important to note that modern culture has taken a hold of this command and shifted its meaning to focus on ourselves. We’ve all heard the phrase, “you can’t love others until you love yourself first.”  This isn’t the point of God’s great commandments to us at all. He calls us to focus first on Him, and secondly on others. Love of self comes naturally for us - we have no problem catering to our own needs, defending our own position or our own self-righteousness. We are constantly operating from a place where we seek our own greater comfort, security, peace. In fact, we often believe the problems we experience in life are the result of other people’s sins against us. What pushes us outside of our comfort zone is to consider what would make others feel best, what would allow others to experience security and peace, what would leave those in my life feeling the greatest love?

Loving others as ourselves means ranking others’ needs as our own. Just as we consider our feelings in a dispute, this command calls us to operate from a place s where we consider the other person as important as we consider ourselves. It not only means giving in to their point of view or position and allowing them to “win,” but it also means creating a situation where anyone who has an encounter with us walks away feeling loved. You see, James isn’t just calling us to love those people we interact with on a regular basis as ourselves, he is calling us to love *everyone* as ourselves, to not discriminate against anyone - this includes the waitress serving your meal, the boy bagging your groceries, the driver who cuts you off in traffic, the homeless man sleeping in the alley. Do they all walk away from you feeling more loved as a result of their interactions with you?

Far too often, it is easy to simply turn our back and walk away than to go out of our way to demonstrate God’s love to the world around us.  But that’s what He calls us to do. The God who created this entire universe is sovereign over it all, which means He is sovereign over every single interaction He has orchestrated in your life. Don’t minimize even one of the them to think He doesn’t see or care how you respond in any particular situation. He does. And He calls us to respond to all in love, without any partiality. 


Press on ~ you are loved 💗

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Medical Update ~ 09/27/17

Image
Today was a challenging day.  I met with the oncologist to discuss chemo as part of my treatment plan.  The oncologist explained there were 3 additional invasions discovered during surgery, so there were actually 4 isolated invasions in the breast tissue.  To review - my diagnosis is Ductal Carcinoma in situ (DCIS) with Invasive Ductal Carcinoma.  All 4 of the invasions are HER2+ (aggressive) and hormone negative (recurrent).  My oncologist walked us through the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCM) guidelines for treatment of this type of aggressive, recurrent cancer - chemo and radiation. The good news is God had already moved the mountain in my heart opposing chemo, and rested me in a place of acceptance.  While my initial prayers focused on not having to have chemo as part of my treatment, after hearing I had multiple invasions, He moved me to a place of understanding that chemo is a necessary part of my treatment.  If there were 4 invasions in the sample they took, there co
Read more

My Journey Begins...

I am a believer in Christ, and I have breast cancer.     On August 17, 2017, I was diagnosed with an aggressive (HER2+), recurrent (hormone negative) type of Invasive Ductal Carcinoma.  At this point, they have not yet staged my cancer because they are waiting for the biopsy results from a suspicious spot in the second breast. The biopsy is scheduled for September 5th, with a lumpectomy to follow on September 7th.  They will formally stage my cancer after they biopsy my lymph nodes, which will be taken during the surgery.  It doesn't make any sense to me that I have a cancer diagnosis - I am a fairly healthy woman who runs 2 miles almost every day and eats a gluten-free, primarily paleo diet, with no family history at all.  But it makes sense to God, and so here I am. Update ~ They found 4 isolated invasions during the lumpectomy.  Due to the nature of my cancer (HER2+ and ER-), the recommended protocol is chemotherapy and radiation.  Beginning in October, my chemotherapy regime
Read more

Grace in Marriage

When we launched our new blog we had no idea if anyone would see it or be helped by it, but we knew that the LORD was prompting us to step out in faith and just do it. The response has been amazing and we are looking forward to how God will use this space for His glory. We have learned over many years of service in a variety of ministries, that God does not require human assistance to realize His plans for individuals, churches, nations, or the human race. But the story of the bible is the story of God’s will playing out through the words and actions of the His children. So…we pray, meditate on his Word, and write from the heart about the truths that mold our faith, guide our actions, and inspire our hearts and minds. Please visit the site and subscribe to continue receiving posts.  https://graceinmarriage.com/ It is our sincere hope that you are blessed by our work here and welcome your input on how we can make Grace in Marriage even better. Thank you for your support.
Read more