Blessings to you, loved ones.  As I sit here listening to the rain outside my window, I am thankful.  I marvel at the intricacy of God’s creation.  This earth is a beautiful and amazing place, provided for us by our loving Father.  My prayer for us this week is that we rediscover the joy of life and share that joy with everyone we meet.

It was good to be back where I belong last Sunday.  We were few, but we were there for His glory and we know that He was with us.  Linda encouraged us all to work to set others free regardless of the cost, taking inspiration from the life of Harriet Tubman.  I enjoyed sharing with you about the wonder and the meaning of being created in the image of God.

This Sunday, we will explore that reality from a different perspective.  I hoped to encourage you with the understanding of how much God loves you and what a marvelous creation you are, being made in His image.  Now consider this.  If you are made in His image, so is everyone around you.  If we reflect on that fact, might it change the way we treat each other?  Consider how you feel when someone you love is mistreated, especially if the victim is one of your children.

Jesus was once asked about the greatest commandment in the law.  I haven’t verified this, but I’ve heard that this was supposed to be another trap because the Pharisees taught that all the commandments were equal.  But Jesus didn’t hesitate.  He responded with these words.

“‘YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’ On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.” (Mt. 22:37-40 NASB)

I can’t count the number of times I’ve heard people quote this passage and then say something like, “How can you love your neighbor as yourself if you don’t love yourself?”  In so doing, they’ve turned Jesus’s words upside down!  It’s well meant, but it puts the focus back on us instead of on God and what God loves.  Most of what we call self-hatred is really an obsessive self love.  we hate those things that don’t measure up to the self we want to be.  I have been guilty.  You can find the evidence in my personal blog.  Jesus didn’t command us to love ourselves.  That is presented as fact.  He did command us to love others with that same fervor.  what would our churches and our world look like if we did that?

I pray that you will join us as we worship and study God’s word together.  We love you and miss you.  Come and bring a friend!

Larry