What’s That Order Again?

I kind of found myself lost in my thoughts this morning as I cleaned up the kitchen counter after breakfast.  When I turned to the sink to rinse my sponge, I suddenly became aware of the folksy lyrics that Gloria Gather was singing/talking during a Gather Homecoming performance that was playing on the Sirius XM Southern Gospel channel.  

The song was called “Sunday Meeting Time” and reflected days gone by with picturesque memories of growing up in a little white country church, singing the old hymns at the Sunday morning service and spending time with that special friend during and after Youth Group meetings where “Kumbaya” was sung around a campfire. Then there were the “dates” at the many special events at the church, walking down the aisle on their wedding day and a while later, standing on the platform with that little bundle of joy as they dedicated their first child to the Lord.

After a few refrains of the chorus, I realized that I wasn’t just listening to the song but was re-living Piper’s and my youth and the early days of marriage at the Baptist church we attended.  But, while the church was an older, well-established congregation… it was far from a little white country church!  It had a large, well-appointed and modern sanctuary that sat on the corner of two busy streets, in the middle of some nice neighborhoods with a Junior High on one side and an elementary school on the other… So, no youth campfires after church… but we did sing “Kumbaya”… in fact, it was one of the first Christian songs I learned to play on my guitar!

Piper and I were highly involved in that church and at times it seemed like we lived there!  For a while we rented a townhouse right next to the church parking lot and walnut orchard in back, so that we could just walk back and forth from the church!  During our twelve years there, we were blessed with some very special mentors from which we gained Biblical training, wisdom and direction for life and ministry and especially the know-how and confidence to explore our dreams and convert them into successful ministry projects and events.

In many respects, those years were the foundational times that helped to establish my self-confidence and trust in the development of my personal talents and abilities.  In Biblical language… I guess you could say that it is where and when I began to LOVE myself!  BUT WAIT!  Before you begin to think of me as being self-conceited & braggadocios… Let me explain…

In Mark 12:30-31, Jesus tells us to,

“LOVE the Lord your God with every passion of your heart, with all the energy of your being, with every thought that is within you, and with all your strength.  This is the great and supreme commandment.  And the second is this: ‘You must LOVE your neighbor in the same way in which you LOVE yourself.’ You will never find a greater commandment than these.” (God’s Word ©/TPT)

While studying these verses over the last few weeks, I’ve begun to see a little different angle on something we are all taught as Christians… which is to LOVE God FIRST, to LOVE Your Neighbor or Others NEXT and Yourself LAST… RIGHT?

Well… Maybe NOT!  If you’ll notice when you read Jesus’ teaching, He does tell us to always put and LOVE the Father FIRST… but then… when you read the next section a little slower, you’ll see that while He does tell us to LOVE our Neighbors… He puts a caveat or specific stipulation on that instruction by saying to LOVE them:

“IN THE SAME WAY IN WHICH WE LOVE OURSELVES!”

So… if I am reading this right, you and I can’t adequately LOVE our Neighbors* if we do not FIRST… LOVE ourselves.  In other words… it is hard to give something to someone else if you have nothing to give! 

And how does a Christian LOVE themselves?  By acting on the FIRST part of Jesus’ teaching… To LOVE the Lord your God with all of your HEART, SOUL, MIND and STRENGTH. For if you and I are daily growing in and experiencing our LOVE for the Lord with ever fiber of our being, we will continually grow in our knowledge, understanding and application of HIS LOVE to and for us and in return… seek to LOVE HIM in the same manner.

Therefore… once you know how special you are to the Lord, you’ll appreciate who you are and all that God has given you… and want to share that LOVE with the others around you.

This post has gotten a little long… so, I’ll share more in our next posts… but until then, I would encourage you to chew on all this information, study these verses in your own Bibles and let the Spirit of God speak to you about all of this!

Have a terrific weekend, be blessed and share a little bit of God’s LOVE with someone near to you today!

 

 

*Thayer’s Greek Definitions informs us that our NEIGHBORS (Strong’s word # G4139), are, according to Christ, any other man (or woman) irrespective of nation or religion with whom we live or whom we chance to meet.