I had to answer my daughter’s really difficult question. You’d think it would be an easy answer, but the real answer is… Messy. And Jesus is okay with that.
Matthew 22:37–40 (NLT)
Jesus replied, “ ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”
So, my daughter’s question was really too much for a text, but that was how she decided to ask it.
“Dad, is it my job to confront her about her life choices?”
What are some circumstances where you’ve had to wrestle with this question?
How have you seen churches respond with GRACE?
How have you seen churches respond with TRUTH?
Have you seen an imbalance there? Have you seen balance there? Why do we have such a hard time with this?
What did you think of this principle, shared on Sunday (originally from Andy Stanley at the Deep & Wide tour)
When you don’t know what to do,
Love as God through Christ loved you.
Love breaks down barriers. Is that what we’re doing here? Are we breaking down barriers between each other and between us and God? How are we accomplishing that?
Did you know that our lifegroups are designed for this purpose? We all meet exactly within the Biblical pattern of the early church.
Acts 2:46–47 (NLT)
They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity—all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved.
How can we continue to make sure that we are ever more deeply loving each other, as Jesus told us to?
Hebrews 10:24–25 (NLT)
Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.