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A Daily Walk
Scripture Reading: Matthew 22:35-40
Wow, what an incredible journey! You’ve made it to the
last day of your trip. It has likely challenged you and pulled
you out of your comfort zone on numerous occasions,
but hopefully this has been one of the most rewarding
weeks of your life! Throughout the week, you’ve been
learning what the Gospel message is, and you’ve had the
opportunity to live it out on the mission field. As you start
to anticipate your return home, we want to encourage
you to keep living a Gospel-centered life. If this week has
taught you anything, hopefully you’ve learned a little bit
about yourself and the impact you can have when you lean
into God’s calling to share the hope of the Gospel through
the way you love and serve others. Before you pack up,
there is one more truth we believe is important to the
Gospel story - “God so loved the world (that’s you!): He
gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes
in him will not perish but have eternal life.”-John 3:16
You are of immense value to God. When asked what was
most important to Him and how we live this life, Jesus
essentially said this: love God and love people. Notice
the way He phrased the second part, “love your neighbor
as yourself.” Brennan Manning wrote an incredible book
about how to live a life like Jesus called The Importance
of Being Foolish. In the book, he writes, “In order to love
our neighbors as ourselves, we must come to recognize
our intrinsic worth and dignity and to love ourselves in the
wholesome, appreciative way that Jesus commanded when
he said, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The tendency to
continually berate ourselves for real or imaginary failures,
to belittle ourselves and underestimate our worth, to dwell
exclusively on our dishonesty, self-centeredness, and lack
of personal discipline, is the influence of our negative
self-esteem.” In order for us to truly love others well,
we need to begin by learning how to love and be loved,
wholeheartedly, by God. We must learn to value and care
for ourselves so that we can learn to love others with that
same care and intentionality.
“The ability to love oneself is the root and foundation of
our ability to love others and to love God. I can tolerate in
others only what I can accept in myself.”
- Brennan Manning
Why is the Gospel story so powerful? It’s our story as
much as it is the story of Jesus. It’s the story of a God
who loves us so much that He stepped into the world
to demonstrate what it means to truly love God and
love people through His life, death, resurrection, and the
indwelling of our souls! You are not leaving the mission
field; you are returning to the mission field that God has
uniquely prepared for you. You have the opportunity to
share the hope of the Gospel by how you live out your
daily life! Take joy in the calling and have confidence,
knowing the victory we have in Jesus.
Sharing the Gospel is more than just telling a story; it’s living in a way that values others the way Jesus values
us. Knowing this, what are some ways in which you would like to love and serve your community better
when you return home?