Jesus shared with his followers that all of the law was wrapped up in this new command:
“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” (Luke 1:27)
Do you remember your teacher, parent or babysitter reciting the Golden Rule: Do Unto Others as they would do unto you?” I do! And many times when it was said to me it was after someone had hurt or offended me. I remember thinking -- I don’t want to be kind, they just hurt me.
I think this is a natural reaction. The conundrum between seeking justice and acting with love is illustrated well in the movie Switched written by Alexandra Boylan, John K D Graham and Andrea Polnaszek. One of the familiar phrases quoted throughout the movie is: Lead with Love.
We may know that leading with love is the right thing to do but it is not the easy thing to do.
I hope you will join me on a seven day journey to explore what it means to lead with love. When Jesus says love your neighbor as yourself during a conversation, He is referencing a famous Jewish prayer that had been written by Moses. It was called the Shema: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul and all your mind.” (Deuteronomy 6:4). This was God’s instruction to his people to encourage them to stay on track.
When Jesus restates it in Luke, He adds to it by saying -- "Love God and love others as yourself." This is a key teaching of Jesus and as you learn and grow in your understanding it will literally change the way you do life.
I have organized the daily devotions into four Love Leadings.
Join me as we learn together out to Lead with Love!
When our heart is in it there is passion and emotional energy behind the actions.
It is important to identify our wounds, and first bring them to God. Let go of the toxic energy and trust the hurts to Him rather than taking them into our own hands.
There are neighbors who are easy to love and neighbors who are hard to love. Jesus calls us to love all our neighbors.
What is your biggest distraction in life right now? What is keeping you from living, obeying, loving and believing right where you are?
God loved us so much He paid the ultimate price for all of our shortcomings.
The Bible says there is no law prohibiting how much you can love, care or be kind. You can do it as much as you can!
If love is an action that requires connection, what does that look like for you?