Momentum For Monday, February 28th 2022

"…and the second is like it…" (Matthew 22:38)

There is a direct connection to how well we love God and how well we love others. I wish I could tell you this from a position of great success, but alas, I fail often at this. Thankfully, by the grace of God, each failure teaches me how to be better.

Genuine attempts at loving God will overflow into our relationships with people. 1 John 4 speaks directly about this. He says in verse 20 that if you profess to love God and hate a brother, you're a flat-out liar. Oof. John wasn't playing around.

This is also why isolation isn't healthy. Not only does Proverbs tell us that it's selfish (Proverbs 18:1), but we're stepping out of direct obedience of the greatest commandments when doing so. I'll confess, quarantining in the pandemic has made it very easy to live this way. But the truth is, we need relationship and community with not just one person, but many…especially in regard to the body of Christ.

On the flip side, loving well dispels fear and torment. The more love that's present, the more freedom is experienced, and that goes for all of us. Further, loving others can bring about deep experiences of God. It's a win-win for both parties involved.

This Monday Momentum isn't to condemn you but evaluation for improvement. Where can we love God better and love others better? Maybe it's just a matter of reaching out and being intentional. Maybe there's a matter of hatred in you that needs healed (no shame there, deep wounds can cause bitter reactions that we need help with).  Knowing this will be completely cheesy and cliche (and fun), what the world needs know is love (sweet love).

“For though we have never yet seen God, when we love each other God lives in us, and his love within us grows ever stronger.”

(1 John 4:12)