My friend Noah Taylor who was sitting near us said, “That would come from the doctrine that says anything pleasurable must be from hell?”

Hmm. . . I’d never thought about that. But that question has stuck with me for years, and I’m starting to see a trend in our modern so-called Christianity that simply smacks in the face of 2nd, 3rd and 4th century Greek asceticism. The ideas that any pleasure felt by our senses only distracts us from the spiritual. We are, after all, going off to “heaven” someday so no sense enjoying this world… just passing through.

I read on another blog a wonderful quote from C.S. Lewis in his “Letters to Malcolm” collection.

I was learning the far more secret doctrine that pleasures are shafts of the glory [corporeal displays of the glory of God] as it strikes our sensibility. As it impinges on our will or our understanding, we give it different names–goodness or truth or the like. But its flash upon our senses and mood is pleasure. …

You notice that I am drawing no distinction between sensuous and aesthetic pleasures. But why should I? The line is almost impossible to draw and what use would it be if one succeeded in drawing it?

Do you get it? Why should we draw these lines. Only recently, (this morning actually) did I learn that even one of my very favorite modern theologians likes to embrace this stance. The concept is being passed off by John Piper and his friends as “Christian Hedonism.” It is a mindset of only taking any pleasure in God. In doing this, of course, there are many pleasures and huge conflicts that come into our already confused and bizarre thinking with western churchianity.

I hope I’m not coming off as angry, I’m not. It’s more heart breaking. There’s a hope that we have, and it’s not in wishing this world away. It’s not in viewing this world as a passing thought or a visit, as though we’re aliens that will magically be taken to another land.

Our hope is in the resurrection of Christ, who is working hard at the marriage of heaven and earth. Our hope is in a redeemed creation. And our joy is that God the Father, the ruler of all has invited us in to help set things right, to be with him, and work hard with him. What a joy.

And you know what, he, in all of his loving-kindness created this world. He adores the laughs of babies. He delights in a good sunrise and sunset. He loves to see us run, play, celebrate and rejoice in his kingdom.

He made men handsome and women beautiful. He gave us each amazing eyes so that we could gaze into them and wonder. He made the touch of skin, hand on hand, cause chemical reactions within us, because he wanted us to be close and intimate with one another.

He made cheese taste incredible!

He made colors deep and rich!

Everywhere you look, there’s a glimmer of God’s personality trying to come out. But our world has been so perverted, so prostituted, so vandalized, that it can be hard to find him in there. But the answer is not by any means to simply swear it all off and seek after esoteric pleasure. . . no, look around you. Breathe deep the breath of God and draw him out of every corner.

It’s an incredible practice. The more you do it, the more you’ll see it wherever you look.

Here’s another great quote from Lewis-

I have tried … to make every pleasure into a channel of adoration

The enemies of God would love nothing more than to keep us meaningless. To let everything simply become dust and shadow. But God will not have it. He has instilled and imprinted himself on each and every living creature on this earth, and would love for you to look around and see it.

You! Yes, even you dear reader, have been made to express some aspect of our wonderful Father’s personality.

I truly believe that there is nothing worth devoting your life to other than the pursuit of our maker. Everything else is vain and will pass away. But for me, to take delight in him, and accept the joy that he actually delights in me too, is a powerful and joyful life to live. It drives me to compassion and motivates me to do very good things.

Don’t let them tell you the lie that this earth will just pass away and you’re gonna be on fluffy clouds. Don’t let them tell you that the only pleasure is some mystical warm fuzzy of having all the right reformed theological doctrines inside. Don’t miss out on an amazing relationship with God the Father that will cause you to breathe life wherever you go.

Maybe this is too vague and confusing. It’s worth the risk, but it bothered me… so I wrote.

May the peace of the Lord Jesus Christ will find you where you are, and bring you into his kingdom.

___________________

Ammendment, see the comments to see a response from someone who apparently knows a lot more about Piper than me. Very grateful.

But either way, I know that as a young believer it was easy, and still is easy to have the mentality that if only I didn’t have skin then I’d be able to simply experience God… it just isn’t so.

I love the sky

It’s a simple concept, but it often causes great rage within us.

“Because they do not regard the works of the Lord, nor the deeds of His hands, He will tear them down and not build them up.”

What a statement. It’s from Psalm 28. It’s quite a prayer.

It’s often very frustrating and difficult for us to acknowledge the hand of God and all of his works and deeds. It can raise a thousand and one questions to which I simply don’t have the answer. . . But in the end, God’s hand is everywhere.

He’s there, beside us, wanting to work through the horrific tragedy that we wreak upon one another. Whether in the jungles of Africa and the torture of children, to the abusive enslavement of generations to hollywood in America, God is trying to work.

God is there, attempting to reach in and help us. Why? Why on earth would he be mindful of us? Why?

I don’t know… but he is.

And here’s the clincher on that passage above; David seems to believe that because people don’t look for the work of God in and through our world, God makes a choice to not build them up.

So many times we’ve seen people like Mother Teresa, Shane Claiborne, Kathy Kelly, Rich Mullins. . . I’m sure you could list them off. There’s many that I could list off right here that you’ve never heard of. But these people were not, are not rich by any means. In fact, some of them you could downright say that they are stricken by God. Their lives are riddled with tragedy, but yet, a smile beamed, or still yet beams across their faces.

Why?

Because they made, and are making a choice.

They’re looking for the hand of God. They’re looking for the presence of their glorious Lord and master.

They’re not afraid of laws passed, or governments or tyrants. They know who is truly in charge, and that nothing escapes his gaze.

And they are built up by God.

When we make the choice to look for him in all things, to ask him to reveal himself in all things, the God of all creation will truly show himself to you!

One of my favorite passages in all the scriptures is from Malachi.

“Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in my house, and test me now in this. . . if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows.”

Just to be clear, the word ‘tithe’ isn’t referring to the bogus nonsense that churches preach and use to fund their buildings and pastor’s salaries. The tithe was for the people, together. The tithe was for a big party for the people of God to celebrate and delight in the Lord’s abundance. Honest… go look!

Anyway, God says, through Malachi that if we put everything that we’ve got into the Kingdom of God, He’ll give us everything he’s got as well. He even goes so far as to say, “test me now in this”. This is pretty well the only time in the scriptures where the God of creation is inviting us to put him to the test.

May we take this challenge seriously.

You can’t lie about it, and pretend. . . this is the God who formed you in the womb. This is the God who designed you to be who you are. This God had a plan to express some part of who he is through your personality. . . through your eyes.

Look for him, he’s looking for you.

He didn’t leave much room for rebellious questioning either. Those who came at him with unbelief were typically left unanswered, or bleeding from the ears from the response that they received.

Arrogance, believing in ourselves over our maker breeds rebellion.

Sure, none of us want to say, “Oh yeah, I believe in what I feel far more than what God is trying to say.” But many of us say it with our lives.

It can be hard to swallow what God gives us. He set a precedent with Abraham as to what we’re to expect from our walk with God, both individually and corporately as a people. He asked Abraham to leave everything and follow. . . Christ did the same.

God asked Abraham to put his son on the altar and slay him. God asks us to do the same with our lives, our opinions, our agenda.

But, none of this comes without the hope of the promised land. God gave Abraham an inheritance beyond measure, and God offers the same to us, each and every day.

God offers us life, if we put the whole thing on the altar, and follow Him.

There’s a movie of the life of Abraham, and in it, there’s a scene where Abraham is teaching Isaac how to offer a sacrifice. It’s beautiful. They bind the ram, and Abraham says to Isaac, “Now keep it calm son, keep it calm. It must be a willing sacrifice. It must be still.”

We have to do the same. The wisdom of God seems so upside down to our mentalities. It doesn’t seem to line up with our survivalist nature. It sacrifices instead of defends. It gives instead of takes. In fact, it builds by giving and being poured out, instead of by taking and consuming.

This is the life we must expect from following the maker of the world. He sent His very mind, the Logos of God, in the form of Christ, a man, to show us exactly what it will look like when we give up our silly little paths and follow.

And Christ met up with basically two types of people; those who said, “Surely you are the Christ, just say the word and I will be healed.” And those who didn’t. . . and they were left empty handed. The former left with life, and life eternal.

With all of that being said, there are two types of questioning we can bring to our lord…

One says, “I don’t believe you.”

The other says, “Help my unbelief.”

One is challenging the maker of the universe. The other is saying, “I want to be with you, but I simply don’t know how to digest what you’re telling me to do.” It’s not that we won’t have question for the Lord, we will, it’s a matter of looking inside and knowing for sure who’s really got the answers. . . you, or God.

He will meet you.

He will help your unbelief.

So I’ve decided to start a new category called “Read This!” And this post is the first…

________

I have grown quite fond of NT Wright over the last 6 months. The man is simply a good man. He points you to God. He loves to point you back to God. He never glorifies himself, but simply keeps pointing you to God.

It also helps that I love the British wit and language.

Anyway, the man is quite prolific, not to mention being a teacher of teachers. And I mean that literally, he teaches Bible teachers. So his works can be quite scholarly. But now and again he’ll release a book under the name Tom Wright, and that can help you be sure that you’re getting a book for the lay-person.

I found, in a thrift store, this gem that I mentioned above titled, “The Original Jesus.” The book is an overview of who Christ is, the realm of the world he lived in, and where it all fits in the context of the Jewish scriptures.

This book has exploded my view and hunger for the scriptures. Wright paints with a very large brush, and leaves you truly in awe of what God has done through Christ, and what it means to every man. And one of my favorite things about his writing is that he doesn’t fill in the blanks for you. It’s as though he makes you so hungry, and doesn’t feed you at all… but instead, tells you to dig in and hunt for yourself.

________

…confusion…

My upbringing was in fundamentalist and charismatic circles. When I’d go to the scriptures, I would get lost and confused. Things didn’t line up.

For example, have you ever read Paul and wondered if Jesus teachings even matter? Have you ever thought that the epistles disagree? Have you ever simply gotten totally lost reading the verse by verse and dissecting each and every word?

well I have… and I hated it.

You shouldn’t have to lie to yourself to read the scriptures. You shouldn’t have to trick yourself.

Now, I can’t address that all here, but I will leave you with one tool that Wright gives to help with all of that.

You wouldn’t go to the symphony and sit down, only to have the conductor lead the orchestra in 10 bars of a Mozart piece, and then have him turn around and tell you to come back next week to hear the next 10. It’d be absurd. The scriptures should quite often be treated the same.

Let them wash over you. Take in massive and huge chunks. Learn the world they were written in and to. Sit down and read entire books at a time.

Enjoy this book. Experience this book…

I can’t tell you how exciting it is to spend hours getting lost in these stories and poems. It’s amazing. And as it washes over you, you start getting a bigger and bigger vision of the Father’s heart, and love, and sometimes his anger. And it’s a vision that we all desperately need.

“Oh God, you are my God; I shall seek you earnestly; my soul thirsts for you, my flesh yearns for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water.

Thus I have seen you in the sanctuary, to see your power and your glory.

Because your lovingkindness is better than life, my lips will praise you. So I will bless you as long as I live; I will lift up my hands in your name.” Psalm 63:1-4

Lately I’ve been listening to the audio book of Francis Chan’s “Crazy Love.” If this book doesn’t convict you, then you’re completely numb. But it doesn’t simply convict, it inspires.

Chan has a knack for helping us step back and look at the whole of our lives and ask, “Am I a Christian? Do I really love God?”

The squirming fact is, however, for most of us, the answer would be a resounding no… especially when we compare ourselves to the standards Christ set up.

Truth be known, we’re chubby, lazy, and more rich than we can imagine. Our spiritual poverty and depravity are tremendous. And we think we ‘love’ God.

I’m not feeling condemned here, I’m feeling inspired. Because God’s mercy is new every day. I repeat, His mercies are new every day!

But Mr. Chan quoted that passage in the book, and used it to compare our mentalities to those of David. God set David up to be a hero of sorts; perhaps an icon of what it will look like when we follow God with abandon and zeal. David blew it, left an right, and David came to the Father on his knees, and made it right… over and over.

But in this passage, Psalm 63 we hear David crying out from his very being.

These words are used in many contemporary worship songs too… we’ve heard these. But do we own them?

I believe that it’s a valuable question to ask ourselves. “Are these 4 verses an accurate picture of my relationship to the Father?”

If the answer is no- there’s still daylight left.

Think about it- is there really anything more important than this? Is there anything else worth having other than the presence and hope that only the Almighty God himself can bring?

No- there’s nothing. There is nothing else.

I want my very flesh to cry out for his presence.

I want everything within me to seek him earnestly.

I want to love God like David did… after all- God has loved me so much.

The color green blows my mind. I love it. It’s truly gorgeous. I don’t like it on walls and such, but outside. It means ‘nutrients.’ It means LIFE! It’s so great.

So out there picking away, something caught my attention.

These plants take the sunlight, and turn it in to food for us and other animals. They stretch out to the sky and somehow by God’s magic harness this intangible thing we call light, and turn it into life-giving food and energy for us to feast on.

I believe that much of God’s nature is reflected throughout many aspects of creation. They’re there to show us things…

So that  got me thinking about Christ.

This is what Christ did. The intangible and unfathomable God, was transformed into flesh for us to feast on.

Isn’t that awesome?

I certainly think so.

People can balk and protest the thought and idea of Christ all they want. But it’s truly beautiful that God wants to know us so very much, that he channeled his massiveness into a human child, to walk around, teach, confront, and show us what he really looked like.

His teachings are a feast, and they’re hard and good. And he longs to feed and water us daily with his living and breathing word… with his Spirit.

And so that brings me to our part, as children of God, in the process of spiritual photosynthesis. We take the intangible Spirit of Christ, of God, and are made to do just as Christ did, to turn it into tangible food for the world around us.

We’re made to be like vegetation, soaking in the sun, and through the power of God, transforming it into food.

What an awesome life! And what an awesome picture!

May we give all around us a feast of the love and nature of the Father. May we walk and talk like Christ, as he walked and talked like the Father.

“A voice is calling, ‘Clear the way for the Lord in the wilderness; make smooth in the desert a highway for our God. Let every valley be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; and let th erough ground become a plain, and the rugged terrain a broad valley; then the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all flesh will see it together; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.’”

It’s intense, but… we’re used to that aren’t we. We’re used to extreme language. We’re used to shock and awe advertising campaigns, slogans, politics. Have we grown used to the Gospel?

Clear a way for the Lord?

What does that mean to you?

John the baptizer was the one who would cry out before Christ walked Israel’s streets and deserts. John loved the day of Lord so much that he leaped in his own mother’s womb at the mere presence of Christ, still in Mary’s womb. He declared himself unworthy to even untie our Lord’s sandals.

John bowed low.

This prostitute Mary, she bowed low too. She bought such expensive perfume, perhaps spent all she had to anoint the feet of our Lord. She cried and washed his feet with her own tears, tears of repentance.

Both her and John caused great stir; criticized and chastised.

Both gave their all to bow low before their Lord and master.

Mary didn’t hear teachings of grace and salvation, nor justification by faith alone. John erupted with holy rage at fallen Israel, at a people who had never made known to the earth the truly amazing thing that they had in knowing that God Himself had reached out and found them.

They explode in the face of conformity. The relevant stood by in disgust at the whore at Christ’s feet. The accepted leaders of Israel mocked John, and were jealous of this veritable wild man in the desert. And Christ, he slapped the powers in the face getting on the ground and washing the filthy feet of fisherman and sinners.

Mary and John, as well as others, were a peculiar people.

I’m supposed to be this too. I’m supposed to stick out like a sore thumb. I’m supposed to care what God thinks, about everything.

I’m His, and I am not fit to tie the thong of His sandals. I’m not worthy to let Him wash my feet.

Am I too cool to declare what Christ has done for me?

Are we too relevant to get on our knees and wash His feet?

Am I too concerned with the praise of men, relatives and friends to revere my God?

I do not want to live an unquestioned life, for I have been touched, washed, changed, delivered and lifted up by the creator of the universe. I know God. He speaks to me daily. He feeds me with His living Word.

I am doing a disservice to both myself and all around me if I do not declare the Gospel of Christ. He is Lord! He has risen! He is redeeming His own! And He is so very good!

And here’s where I’d like to go from there- my life is truly not my own. May this not be an old cliche, but the truth, it’s not mine, it’s His to live. If I am part of His body, then I no longer get to guide myself around… it’s His to do. I don’t get to turn this off, like a light switch. It’s all the time, every day, I’m His, and not my own. These hands are His. This tongue is His.

Does He complain like I do? Does He treat the weak like I do? Does He try to appease the arrogant and opinionated like I do? Does He spend and treat the world as disposable like I do?

God, take control.

Help me have the boldness of John and Mary. Show me how to step out, in boldness, and display my gratitude for even being allowed to know You.

Help me not be too relevant to be truly reverent.

You deserve my all.

_______

“For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of parched ground; He has no form or majesty that we should look upon Him, nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him.” Isaiah 53:2

It’s interesting, this description of Messiah. Not exactly the type of savior many want; in fact, if you are honest, I’d be willing to bet that it’s not the type of savior and lord that you want interfering with your life either.

A friend of mine posted this quote:

“Man finds it hard to get what he wants, because he does not want the best; God finds it hard to give, because He would give the best, and man will not take it.” - George MacDonald

God knew what we needed, and as stated above, we often will not take it. Not only do we not take it, we often refuse to believe that it’s even from the hand of God.

We look at that despicable thing happening to us or coming at us, or that frustrating and irritating person talking to us and think, “there’s no way this is God; this is horrible.” But that’s exactly what people said about our Lord. “What good comes from Nazareth?”

“He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and like one from whom men hide their face. He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried; yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.” Isaiah 53:3-5

I have a rough time reading these verses. Why? Well, I’ve too often turned away from His horrid face. It’s too hard to look at.

I want to challenge us all to dwell on these passages and images though… deeply. They really should make you weep. They should make you look around and see where you might be hiding your face from Him. They should make us realize that us prideful men often don’t like to look on the face of our Lord at all. We’re grateful that he died for us, but not so happy to watch Him do it.

I find it funny about us, even those who are endeavoring to be dedicated disciples, that we know in our heads that these verses are the very face of our Lord. But yet, in our hearts we still long for a mighty, Hollywood warrior to come and make it all right.

But He doesn’t always make it all right, does He? The Father didn’t make it all right for Him either… did He? And we’re supposed to take up our cross, and follow Him, aren’t we?

It’s for our own good – and it will save us from our wretched selves.

God, our Father… please change our hearts and vision, that we would be able to see the real You, and not long for You to be different. Please don’t let us send you away when we see Your affliction.

Let us receive You openly. Let us welcome You with open arms. Deliver us from our lust for might, strength, and worldly power. Let Your kingdom come, Lord… and let us not be too blind to see it.

Now, I don’t know who Dr. David Ryser is or what he’s about, but I do know that this was worth reading… I added some emphasis.

_____________

THE QUESTION that CHANGED MY LIFE

-by David Ryser.

A number of years ago, I had the privilege of teaching at a school of
ministry. My students were hungry for God, and I was constantly searching
for ways to challenge them to fall more in love with Jesus and to become
voices for revival in the Church. I came across a quote attributed most
often to Rev. Sam Pascoe. It is a short version of the history of
Christianity, and it goes like this:

Christianity started in Palestine as a fellowship; it moved to Greece and
became a philosophy; it moved to Italy and became an institution; it moved
to Europe and became a culture; it came to America and became an enterprise.
Some of the students were only 18 or 19 years old–barely out of
diapers–and I wanted them to understand and appreciate the import of the
last line, so I clarified it by adding, “An enterprise. That’s a business.”
After a few moments Martha, the youngest student in the class, raised her
hand. I could not imagine what her question might be. I thought the little
vignette was self-explanatory, and that I had performed it brilliantly.
Nevertheless, I acknowledged Martha’s raised hand, “Yes, Martha.” She asked
such a simple question, “A business? But isn’t it supposed to be a body?” I
could not envision where this line of questioning was going, and the only
response I could think of was, “Yes.” She continued, “But when a body
becomes a business, isn’t that a prostitute?”

The room went dead silent. For several seconds no one moved or spoke. We
were stunned, afraid to make a sound because the presence of God had flooded
into the room, and we knew we were on holy ground. All I could think in
those sacred moments was, “Wow, I wish I’d thought of that.” I didn’t dare
express that thought aloud. God had taken over the class.

Martha’s question changed my life. For six months, I thought about her
question at least once every day. “When a body becomes a business, isn’t
that a prostitute?” There is only one answer to her question. The answer is
“Yes.” The American Church, tragically, is heavily populated by people who
do not love God. How can we love Him? We don’t even know Him; and I mean
really know Him.

… I stand by my statement that most American Christians do not know
God–much less love Him. The root of this condition originates in how we
came to God. Most of us came to Him because of what we were told He would do
for us. We were promised that He would bless us in life and take us to
heaven after death. We married Him for His money, and we don’t care if He
lives or dies as long as we can get His stuff. We have made the Kingdom of
God into a business, merchandising His anointing. This should not be. We are
commanded to love God, and are called to be the Bride of Christ–that’s
pretty intimate stuff. We are supposed to be His lovers. How can we love
someone we don’t even know? And even if we do know someone, is that a
guarantee that we truly love them? Are we lovers or prostitutes?

I was pondering Martha’s question again one day, and considered the
question, “What’s the difference between a lover and a prostitute?”
I realized that both do many of the same things, but a lover does what she
does because she loves. A prostitute pretends to love, but only as long as
you pay. Then I asked the question, “What would happen if God stopped paying
me?”

For the next several months, I allowed God to search me to uncover my
motives for loving and serving Him. Was I really a true lover of God? What
would happen if He stopped blessing me? What if He never did another thing
for me? Would I still love Him? Please understand, I believe in the promises
and blessings of God. The issue here is not whether God blesses His
children; the issue is the condition of my heart. Why do I serve Him? Are
His blessings in my life the gifts of a loving Father, or are they a wage
that I have earned or a bribe/payment to love Him? Do I love God without any
conditions? It took several months to work through these questions.
Even now I wonder if my desire to love God is always matched by my attitude
and behavior. I still catch myself being disappointed with God and angry
that He has not met some perceived need in my life. I suspect this is
something which is never fully resolved, but I want more than anything else
to be a true lover of God.

So what is it going to be? Which are we, lover or prostitute?
There are no prostitutes in heaven, or in the Kingdom of God for that
matter, but there are plenty of former prostitutes in both places. Take it
from a recovering prostitute when I say there is no substitute for
unconditional, intimate relationship with God. And I mean there is no
palatable substitute available to us (take another look at Matthew 7:21-23
sometime). We must choose.

-Dr. David Ryser

First let me state a couple of things…

I believe that we have to fight not to be hard hearted.

I believe that we have to grapple with the fact that most, if not EVERY SINGLE ONE OF US AMERICAN CHRISTIANS, would be lumped in with Pharisees and Scribes that Christ so thoroughly rebuked. (if you don’t believe this, please stop reading, because you’ll hate where this is going.)

I believe that we like to think we’re right. We love to have our ducks in a row. We love to label, systematize, and put things in neat boxes, formulas and methodologies.

I believe that all of this is sin.

I wish I could shake the evil ‘rightness’ out of us all, so that we could see real and pure light. I wish someone would slap the urge to argue and debate in battles of words right out of me. I wish we could all simply rest in the fact that God is God, and we need to simply be near Him. He can defend himself, and you can be darn sure that He can defend us as well… if we’re not too busy fighting.

We miss so much much of the central message of Christ because we’re so busy pontificating ‘rightness’ instead of being obedient children.

So here’s the story…

When the apostle John had grown very old, he was nearing the turn of a century of life, he had become slow and unable to move well. At gatherings, he had to be helped in, and sometimes carried.

Many would speak, but at every gathering, John would speak up, and say the same thing…

“Little children; love one another.”

Over… and over…. and over…

“Little children; love one another.”

Gathering after gathering, he would speak the same thing. Never anything new or different.

“Little children; love one another.”

Eventually, the other men became annoyed, and finally asked him, “Why do you keep saying this to us?”

His reply…

“Because if you do it- it is enough.”

This is the teachings of a dying apostle. The last one left. All the others had gone on in glorious martyrdom. He didn’t speak a systematic theology. He didn’t give the four spiritual laws. He didn’t teach on the Romans Road. He didn’t talk of heaven and hell. What are the words of this dying man? He talked about here, and now.

“Little children; love one another.”

Is it enough for you?

Can you believe what Jesus said? That the greatest commands were to love God with your everything, and to love your neighbor as yourself?

Do you want to argue with John? I know that I often do…

But it covers everything… like our Lord said, it covers the law, and all of the prophets.

So I’ll repeat it again- and challenge us all to live this way today.

“Little children; love one another…. for if you do, it is enough.”