Community – 1John 4:8, 16
A New Teaching Series starting February 2, 2025
Galatians 5:13-15 NLT
For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love. For the whole law can be summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
Are you struck by – puzzled by – the assertion that loving others sums up the whole law? Isn’t it much more comfortable seeing “loving God and loving others” as the summary. It does certainly sound like community, our involvement in it and attitude toward it, is crucial as we follow Jesus. I do believe that deeply loving others isn’t possible without a belief that God’s got us looked after, only from that safety can we be free to look beyond ourselves. I also suppose that we love God by loving others. Not unlike someone loving one of our children really well is a way to love us really well. Community: Lot’s to ponder.
Prayer: “Keep talking, God, we are all ears as we engage in a new series of teaching called, Community”