One of the hardest things to do as a pastor is not preaching, but living your sermons. As we conclude Advent Conspiracy, this last theme was "Love All".
I had a few instances during the week where this was tested. For example, as I was dropping Hallie off at school on Friday, I was cut off and blocked in by someone who was more in a hurry than I was. At that moment I sure didn't feel like loving all but I caught myself and chuckled as I thought about the message.
The best way to see what loving all looks like is to look at the life of Jesus. How he interacted with people – many of questionable character - (greedy people, deceptive, self-righteous, hateful, demonized, bigoted, some living together and having sex, some prostitutes, etc). Jesus was moved with compassion and loved them - all. An example of this is found in John 4. This is the story of the woman at the well. It was quite scandalous for Jesus to associate with her for several reasons, but deep down He wanted to express to her how much she was loved by her heavenly Father - even though she had a lurid past.
She was a precious creation of God who had unsurpassable worth. In fact, within a few short years, Jesus would give his own life for this priceless jewel... And He has done the same for each of us as well as the rest of the world. The 2 great commands are: Love God and love your neighbor as yourself. Loving our neighbors as self is part of what it means to love God. We are to never separate our love for God from our love toward others… “It’s impossible to ascribe ultimate worth to God while refusing to ascribe worth worth to those whom God ascribes worth by dying for them". John 3:16
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