Despite what many would have us believe, the Gospel is not complicated. It is very simple. Jesus has given us everything we need. It is so simple that a child of three can get it: Love God and love the one in front of you. It’s not about how to fill a building, build a brand or make sure there is plenty of room to wiggle out of it all. It’s just this: Love God and love the one in front of you.
It all starts with one person, just like Jesus, stopping for the one. It’s not about looking at ourselves but looking right at Him. He has shown us how to live with passion, to love with compassion. Don’t let anyone turn you away from understanding His heart. Do nothing to gain the approval of man. Instead, in humility, consider others better than yourself as you come to understand more and more why His love requires that “the last will be first and the first will be last” (Matthew 20:16).
We are called to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. That means we can’t hate ourselves, because we don’t want to duplicate that! We need to understand how much God loves each one of us. God loves you as He finds you; He loves both who you are and also who you can become. This is my prayer: God, open our eyes to Your love and compassion for the man, woman or child in front of us every day. For the one who has been kicked and spat on, who is broken, messed up and alone. For the rich man who is starving on the inside, the young boy who does not know when he will eat again, the girl in the dress that has been ripped to rags. Help us to preach in the street, to preach right in the dirt.
Jesus wants you and me to love Him first and wholly, with reckless devotion, and then to love someone else. This is the Gospel; this is the price; this is our place and our purpose. This, beloved, is where real life and real joy are found!
Simple - Rolland & Heidi Baker - Reckless Devotion (Day 33)
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