“Jesus expected his followers to support the work of God. Love supports the work of God. Supporting Jesus turns one’s love for Jesus and for his kingdom vision and for his followers into living reality. When Jesus called his followers to love God and to love others, involved in that love was the willingness to use resources for kingdom work.” (p 182)
What do I use my resources for?
“The twelve were with [Jesus], as well as some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from who seven demons had gone out, ad Joanna, the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their resources.”
Luke 8:1-3
“But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
Matthew 6:33
Facing the Day – Love supports the work of God.
“Love of others means to yearn for, pray for, and work for the other person so that they can become the person God wants them to be and do what God wants them to do.” (p177)
What do you yearn for?
“We hope for justice in this world, and we live as if that kingdom of justice were already here, because Jesus taught us to pray, ‘Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven’ (Matthew 6:10). A Jesus Creed kind of love acts on this hope.” (p 177)
How are you praying today?
“And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.”
1 Corinthians 13:13
Facing the Day – We live the love of the Jesus Creed by faith with hope.
“Most of us connect what we do with who we are. Most of us associate our worth with our gifts. Our gifts are a gift from God, and God gives us these gifts – whatever it is God has assigned us to do – for the good of others. But what we do is not eternal. What is eternal is the relationship these gifts establish.” (p 171)
“All we do … will end. Where will it end? In love.” (p 172)
What is eternal in what you do today?
“It is easy for us to think that who we are is what we do. What we do, to be sure, is a gift from God. But Paul reminds us that what we do has a goal: to establish and nature what will remain. What will remain is love. Let us begin today to see our gifts, not just as the enjoyment of our contribution to the good of the church but also as that which will lead us all into what will never end: love.” (p 174)
Look around and see what is lasting.
“But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end.”
1 Corinthians 13:8
“Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known.”
1 Corinthians 13:12
Facing the Day – Our spiritual gifts are given to nurture what will remain forever: love.
“… we like giving; but why do we enjoy it so much? Because the essence of giving is love. The secret to the joy of giving is that giving partakes in eternity, it expresses in concrete form the final utterance of life, and it shares in the Son’s giving to the Father. Whatever you are privileged today to give in the name of love participates in that final action of love, the giving of all we have back to God who is love.” (p 170)
Have you every considered that you are connected to God’s eternal love in your every act of giving and loving? It’s worth thinking about.
“All too often we hear in Christian circles that what is eternal is heaven, or we hear a preacher promising us “eternal life” or heaven. Both of these are true, but not quite true enough. What is finally eternal is love, and heaven, and eternal life are terms that house what is truly essential: love.” (p 168)
Can you catch a vision of love never ending?