Love God, Love Others: Week 1

Over the next twelve months we will be thinking about different practical ways in which can live out the gospel call to love God and love others. In order to provide support and encouragement, we will be regularly sharing ways in which we, as a church, can better pursue Christ in our daily lives.

This Sunday, we were challenged to spend this week reading, meditating and thinking deeply about Jesus’ exhortation in Mark 12:30,

And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.

More specifically, we were challenged to ask ourselves the following questions,

What does the passage mean? This question will necessitate us understanding the context. Why does Jesus say this? What is he responding to? What problem is he addressing and what does he mean? You may need to read the passage before and after verse 30.

But this not enough and should lead to a further question,

What does the passage mean for me?

This is the dangerous question. Herein is the challenge to examine ourselves closely, asking,

In what ways and in what areas do I fail to love God as I ought? How should I respond to the command to love God? What must change? How can I love God more?

And all of this should lead us to pray,

God, help me to know you more deeply. God, help me to love you more.

Listen to the audio of this challenge here:

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