"love" Tagged Touchpoints
The Assunder Blunder
“Therefore, what God has joined together, let no one separate.” 2 Some,[a] testing him, asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” 3 He answered them, “What did Moses command you?” 4 They said, “Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of dismissal and to divorce her.” 5 But Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote this commandment for you. 6 But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ 7 ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father…
Tattle Tails and Stumbling Blocks
Grace and peace to you from the Christ who calls us to walk the path of love, who dwells in all things, and through whom we bear the name of life and light. 38 John said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name,[a] and we tried to stop him because he was not following us.” 39 But Jesus said, “Do not stop him, for no one who does a deed of power in my name will be able soon…
Name, Image, and Likeness
May the light of the Liberator guide your path, grounding you in truth and love. Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” And they answered him, “John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.” He asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Messiah.” And he sternly…
Alluring Wisdom
“When have we ever thought wisdom was sexy the way it is written in Proverbs and in the Song of Solomon? Perhaps it’s because today’s leaders prefer fearful, servile, dependent followers to do their bidding. If that sounds familiar…it’s the premise for the movie, ‘Minions’. Passion to to serve others, think measured, and be kind do not make an attractive vote-getter for the restless. Wisdom is not alluring as described in Solomon’s writings; it is an unfortunate obligation and a duty, rather than satisfying to the soul.”
All in One and One in All
“Love has its source in God, because God is love. To love one another, means the source of love I offer the world, is also from God. If love is too much a burden to engage for me, then I have not come to know God, the source of all the love I have access. How can I understand a command to love my enemies, when I am not aware of the source of all love? Love would in some cases be a heavy burden because on our own, we have a limited capacity for love.”
The Way to Complete Joy
“Jesus provided the greatest command for living a life of joy, friendship, and love. He basically said, ‘I am welcoming you to abide in the agape (love of God). Bask in it and breathe it in. Be in awe of it then welcome (agapao) others. Do this as you are abiding.’”
All in the Game, or the Name?
“’In the name of Jesus’ to me means, In the name of the one who wears the wounds of our lives on his back. It is not magical, but it is mystical. In the name of the one whose reputation was of loving indiscriminately. In the name of the one who found a way out of no way, even through doubt and confusion. In the name of the one who has more power than any therapist suggesting I sit beside still waters. Rather, “In the name of” refers to the one who makes me lie down, in the revelation of Gods compassion, beside still waters. Even more, who is calm waters, and whose spirit restores my soul.”
Word Swaddling
“It is a Word that can only be birthed in humbleness. This might sound trite, but maybe that’s the problem. I’m afraid to appear simple minded to others if I say the ord. This Word is available to all of us but we see it as ineffective, inefficient, and powerless. That Word is love. In my opinion, our modern culture does not see God as Word with the same fervency as the Jews and the Greeks did.”
The G.O.A.T.
“All the laws hang on these two commandments and those commandments defer to the real, genuine greatest of all time. I don’t know about you, but I’m getting goat bumps! What if all our efforts to legislate law in our personal lives and communal lives needed to be filtered by these two commandments? What would be different?”
Perfect Love Casts Out Fear
“To forgive one’s self opens us to the possibility of forgiving another. But to forgive another is not to dispense mercy or justice, for only God has that authority. But it is God who is opening us up to grace and mercy, when we are completely unable. We are merely opening ourselves up to what God can do when we can’t.”
Marginalizing Jesus
“Is there a message here for us? That it’s more important to listen to people, especially those on the margins, than to listen to the economic systems, the political systems, and the religious systems in which we have been raised? It is more important to listen to those on the margins than the leaders of those systems or those who have been most successful in them.”
God Loves Me
“To let go is to gradually embrace love without caveat, without condition. It doesn’t mean tolerating. It doesn’t mean hanging out with someone with the agenda of changing them. It’s letting this love which holds the stars in the firmament and keeps the blood flowing in our body and our minds full of clarity and free.”
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