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Let Love Win
When it comes to family game night in our house, it can get pretty competitive. I'd love to tell you that it's hours of family fun, but the event has been known to end in frustration, anger, or sadness from time to time. It seems like we (that's right - I'm not just talking about my children) forget how much we love each other because we want to win a game so badly.
In Matthew chapter 22, Jesus was put to the test by an expert in the law (the Old Testament). He asked Jesus, “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Yes, God is using these as commandments for us to follow, but He gives these to us because He also knows that if we live by these 2 main principles - love God and love others - we will experience life to its fullest. When we choose love, we are freed from the sins of anger, bitterness, pride, jealousy, and revenge that would hold our thoughts, words, and actions captive. Relationships are healed and restored, and we walk closer with each other and with God.
God chooses love for all of us. We do nothing to deserve His love, but He chose to give up His Son to death on a cross to release us from the bondage of sin. As David Crowder sings, “The cross, meant to kill, is my victory.” While Jesus was dying on the cross, God’s love for us was pulling away with the win, and through His resurrection we experience victory.
Don’t you appreciate knowing that there’s a guaranteed win in life and in death? God chooses love every moment of every day as we are constantly stumbling on sin. May God grant you grace and strength to follow His lead and let love win as we work, talk, and play together.
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