“The sole value of an inside look (why we do what we do and feel what we feel) is measured by it’s helpfulness in moving us towards greater love, both for God and others.” (Inside Out - Larry Crabb)
Do you agree with the above? I am curious your view. If we take to HEART God’s greatest commandment I would then say it should but often we end up looking inside of ourselves not to become more loving or to know God more but to try and figure out how to get what we may want, become happier, and how to satisfy our desires. Is it then a wrong approach? In Psalm 47:4 it says, “take delight in the Lord, and he will give you your heart’s desire.” First, delight in the Lord then. . . . . hmmm.
36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
37 Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’
38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22
:36-40)
So, we are given the greatest commandment. To love God and others as ourselves. Pretty clear is it not? Why is it then so challenging at times!? DOES THE “as yourself” mess us up because we may be messed up? We may have wrong motives or incorrect thoughts. We self-protect to not get hurt thus blunting our capacity to fully love God and others. Past wounds that we have never dealt with are still raw. It could be how we were raised as a child, what we were taught and what we experienced. So yes, we need to LOOK INSIDE and figure it out FOR THE PURPOSE of a greater love and understanding of our Heavenly Father and in knowing His amazing love we can then have correct thoughts, which in turn, SHOULD make us more loving and gracious towards others.
Looking inside of ourselves CAN allow scripture to penetrate us. Looking inside we can then be able, as I stated above, to see the incorrect thoughts and wrong motives of our “deceitful” heart and be able to see more clearly the ways we violate love. To not do so, to not look inside ourselves, scripture can, and often does, just become “head knowledge” and not lived. Scripture does not penetrate as it should thus making us less likely to reach and love others and to reach them with God’s truth of love and GRACE. As we see the faults in our life from taking that INSIDE LOOK, and the love and grace given to us, we can then in turn show that love and grace freely and openly to others. We can then move toward a greater love for God and others.
**would love your thoughts and comments below**
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