Posts Tagged: loving God and loving people

“People Matter—A Lot!”

On August 18, 2024 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer

“Love God and love people.” (The words are from a Danny Gokey song, but are based on Jesus putting together loving God and loving people.)

I just received two emails from two different college alums. The first informed me that my fellow-student’s nephew had lost his battle with cancer. Here was my reply to my classmate, Zac’s Uncle Bill:

“Dear Bill,

Oh, I am so sorry to hear that. Life is such a fragile business. We need I need, to cherish every moment and live flat-out for Jesus.”

Shortly after I had sent this email to Bill and the rest of the Asbury Patriot Class prayer group, I received the following email from Colleen, another Asbury alum. She invited me to sign up for the prayer newsletter and said that she doubted that I remembered her. She was right; I didn’t. Probably should have.

“Dear Colleen,

I would be delighted to receive the newsletter.

I’m afraid that I didn’t get to know very many people well when I attended Asbury. I transferred my junior year, was too focused on my studies, and was dating a girl (now my wife of fifty-one years) who lived about 90 miles away. We were married my senior year and living off campus.

I now regret that I did not get to know more of the exceedingly fine people who were at Asbury when I was there. Knowing “stuff” is important, but knowing people is crucial.

There is an old saying that “We get too soon old, and too late smart.” Amen to that!

Thank you, Colleen, for your vision for the prayer group. Perhaps it’s never too late to connect with people you ought to have known and loved better a long time ago.”

What people is it not too late for you to get to know better and love more, dear reader? Why not start today?

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“PUTTING FIRST THINGS FIRST THIRD”

On February 26, 2018 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer

I crafted a 12-step affirmation that I thought was pretty well-worded.  Whether it really is or not, only eternity will tell.  And even if it was well-worded, the crucial matter is whether I actually live out my affirmation.

In any case, here is the affirmation:

“Today, by God’s grace and with God’s help, I am a kind and diligent person who puts loving God first, loving people second, and putting first things first, third.”

Putting first things first assumes that life is made up of things: objects and activities.  But what if life is made up of people—a God who is a person and people who are . . . well, . . . people?  Perhaps all “things”, all objects and activities, are related to God and other people, either for good or for ill.  And, of course, I need to remember what Radar O’Reiley said: “Hey!  Animals are people too, ya know!”

Jesus reduced all the commandments to two.  Neither of them is primarily related to things.  Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was, but he answered with two commandments: Love God (Deut. 6:5; Matt. 22:37; Mk. 12:30; Lk. 10:27), and love your neighbor (Lev. 19:18; Matt. 22:39; Mk. 12:31; Lk. 10:27).

So, where does putting first things first come in?  Perhaps it doesn’t!  There are really only two “things” that ought to come first—loving God and loving others.

In a sense, putting first things first is a good time management technique, but it should not be mistaken for my priorities.  My priorities are (or at least should be) God and people.  Only when those are my priorities can I fruitfully seek to put first things first.

To say it another way, a good question to ask myself throughout the day is this: Am I putting loving God and loving people first?  If I am doing that, I am indeed putting first (non)things first.  And at that point, everyone and everything receives his/her/its proper due.

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