All In – Part 2

For the next several posts, I want to try to unpack (that’s one of the new Bible study buzzwords.  Unpack.  I like it. Although, at the end of a trip,  I tend to leave things packed for weeks before I empty the suitcase.  Maybe because it signifies the end of the journey and that makes me sad.  Maybe just because I’m lazy.  I don’t know.)  But anyway, I want to try to unpack what it looks like to be “All In”.  How does that look in our daily lives? Where do we start?

In Matthew 22:37-38, Jesus said,

“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.”

Did you get that?  Jesus said to love God with all your heart, soul and mind-with everything you have and are, your whole person.  That’s all in.  He goes on to command us to love our neighbor.  No, that doesn’t just mean the person next door.  Our neighbor is everyone we come into contact with. Everyone.  Our friends and family, yes.  But also the cashier at Walmart, the server at your favorite restaurant, the officer giving you the speeding ticket, the mom with the tantrum-throwing toddler in the grocery store, the guy begging for money on the highway ramp.  Everyone.

Love.  Love God.  Love people.  (If you’ve read my blog before, you’ve heard this before.  You’ll probably hear it again.) Love is a trademark of Jesus’ disciples.  It is how God’s word says we will be known -by our love for each other.  Love is an attitude, an emotion, an action, a way of life.  If we belong to Christ, if we are truly his, then love will be our trademark-our identifier.  Love changes everything. Look at John 3:16 and how love changed things for us:

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son,that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life.”

Why did God send Jesus to rescue us?  Because he loved us.   Because he loves us.  Love changes everything.  Because of God’s love, we have hope.  Because of God’s love, we have peace.  Because of God’s love, we can love God and others.  God’s love changes everything. That’s where all in begins.  God’s love.  Because He first loved us. What an amazing place to start.

I don’t begin to understand the fullness of who God is or his love for me.  But he gave me (and he gave you) a wonderful gift so that we can try to get a glimpse of him -in his word.  I’ve heard it said that the Bible is God’s love letter to mankind.  If you think of a love letter as a way that one reveals their heart to another, shares their deepest longings and desires, then I guess in a way, that is true.  In his word, God tells us who he is, and who he desires us to be.  Love God.  Love people.

So if you said that you want to be “all in”, then start there – in God’s word.  Read it.  Ask God to reveal himself to you.  Ask him to open your eyes to the truth of his word.  Get a glimpse of God’s love.  Ask him for a heart that loves him and people.   Love changes everything.