Thought of the day: Loving God and loving people requires sacrifice. Going to take a minute to write down a passage from Matthew here because I highly doubt that anyone will go grab their Bible to look the scripture up.
"But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?' And he said to him, 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.'" (ESV) ~Matthew 28:34-40 (Same story also referenced in Mark 12:28-34)
We are told to love God first and foremost. After that comes people. I believe we love God by loving people... Today was another racquet ball day. I play so i can improve. As the competition gets harder, i play better. I didn't exactly have that option today. For 30 minutes i played with a couple of girls that couldn't have cared less about the rules (which i tried to explain) or the skill it takes to play a real game. We just hit the ball and talked the whole time. Reason: Not because i wanted to, but because that was a way to love them. It was a way to get to know them. They were at the Campus Crusade Bible study on Thursday and we were able to have a good conversation. After that, i waited to play with someone better than me. While waiting, i met a guy named Jonathan. I so wasn't looking for it, but he began to tell me his life story. Another good conversation that i wasn't expecting. After that, i played with someone more talented than me. In the middle of the game, Jonathan wanted to learn how to play. Scott sat out and i proceeded to teach he and his friend the rules. Of course, they were more concerned with hitting each other with the ball than playing by the rules. I also had the pleasure of listening to them use curse words for more than an hour. As we played, we kept talking and towards the end, Jonathan seemed pretty interested in coming to the Thursday night Bible study. After hearing his life story, i knew he wasn't Christian and hope that in some small way, just by listening, the Lord might have used me today. After that, i was ready to go home. As i was walking out the door, i couple of people i used to go to school with came in. It was nice catching up with them as we played...
I'm pretty sure this post is already a lot longer than you would have hoped to see it. For that reason, i will wait until tomorrow to say the other things i think need to be said. Merry Tuesday to all and to all a good night!