Episode 544

TODAY’S READING
We love because he first loved us.
1 John 4:19

Now, the reason why I chose today’s first we love because he first loved us was because when I talked to my friends, I saw a beautiful picture of what the love of Christ is. We are all very different. We have very different views on life. We have very different political stances. We have very different faiths. One of my best friends practices Islam, another one of my best friends is Jewish, and so the beautiful part about friendship and the beautiful part about family is that we can be surrounded by many different walks of life, many different beliefs, many different opinions, but love is at the deep root of all of our relationships. So even though we disagree on certain topics, we can come together to celebrate each other and our lives and different milestones in our lives. Because we love each other. And that’s what the gospel is to me. It’s loving thy neighbor, no matter what thy neighbor believes. And we love because he first loved us we get to look at Jesus for an example of that. So I don’t know what you’re doing today. I don’t know what you’re doing this weekend. But it’s a long weekend for a lot of us, and that means that we’re going to be surrounded by a lot of people, either friends or family, and sometimes different arguments may come up. Just remember that we get to love on others; no matter what, we get to extend them grace, no matter what. It is a privilege to do so. And we get to look at Jesus as our example. We get to have him at the deep center of all of our relationships in the way that we act and the way that we show love and respect to one another.

Prayer:
Father God, we thank You, Lord, for this beautiful, blessed Thursday. Lord, a lot of us are getting ready for a long weekend, and some of us are not; some of us have work to do. Some of us don’t even reside in the states, so we won’t necessarily have a long weekend. But together as a community, we look to your word for the wisdom for today. And Lord today. We are going to love those because you first loved us. You showed us what it meant to be truly selfless. You came down from heaven for all of our sins who died on a cross, and you went to hell for three days resurrected. And you took those keys back so that we may have eternal life. The Lord makes selfless love. We embody that today with those around us, the people at work, the people online with the people in our homes. Lord, you know exactly those that we come in contact with. And so today is an opportunity to love on them a little bit more. We thank you. And we ask that you bless this beautiful Thursday. It is in your holy name that we pray. Amen