So how were you able to be generous last week? Im sure God gave you opportunities for it! You can be sure that you changed something in this world!!
One of the key things during the story of the prodigal son is love. The father choose to love his son and it cost him a lot. Love is not a fluffy feeling, it is a choice. When you look at the definition in 1. Corinthians 13 you find out that love is a lot of action and again its not out of being deserved, its out of love. And that father showed so much love. He gave up his honor, his money, some of his status and many more things just because he loved his son so much. When he finally came home he showed his love in an action by running up to him and ending up in a big hug and again it was undeserved. Jesus did the same thing during his life. He even said that the greatest love is to lay down our lives for a friend and he did that. But not just that, he showed love to prostitutes, tax collectors and many others. He even showed love to a dead man (Lazarus) by bringing him back to life. He never choose his action by the response of people or if its deserved, no he choose it always by the meaning of love. I don’t know if you have seen the movie wonder woman, but in one of the scenes the evil one tells her about all the bad things humans did and why they deserve to die. Her response to that was Its not about what they deserve, its about what I believe and I believe in love! That is the gospel in action and love is the gospel in action.
So again how can we apply this to our daily life. Loving someone always cost us something. So showing love to someone that deserves it is easy, but we need to show love to someone that does in our eyes not deserve it. So maybe share a loving word or do something nice for somebody at work or in your neighborhood that is not considered a nice person. Love on people that might not have the same opinion then you do and might not replicate it. Loving someone unlovable or undeserved is hard, but when you do it changes them and you and you get to experience more of the love of God for yourself.
Hey our friend
Its already February. The year goes by fast! We had a wonderful brunch again and a great Haeusser hangout. It so great to see how more and more community exists. Its also great to see how people start seeing the need for community more and more. Please keep prainyg with us for here and other places that people are inspired to create community and love on the people around them. It will benefit everyone. Lets change this world by loving our neighbor and with that doing what Jesus called us to do!
Remember this week “Its not about what they deserve, its about what I believe and I believe in love!” So lets let God love his children through us!!!
God bless you
Markus and Jen
When we see the father of the prodigal son again we see generosity. First of all he gives the son an inheritance he does not deserve. Then when the son comes back he gives him an expensive robe and a ring and he throws a big party for him. That is again generosity undeserved. We see the same in the life of Jesus. He is generous with his gifts. If it was in healing people, or by bringing new hope through an uplifting word he was always generous. Or remember the story of how he feed the huge crowds with fish and bread, that is also pretty generous. He also was generous with his time by investing in people one and one. And then with giving his life he showed the greatest generosity of all to give all of us the opportunity for undeserved eternal life. Its amazing the generosity he showed.
Today we want to write about Kindness. What always struck me about the Father in the Prodigal son story is his kindness. He showed kindness after the son asked for his inheritance early. That was a very dishonoring thing in that time, because it was pretty much saying you are dead to me. But the father didn’t respond with hate or anything, no he showed kindness. He did not agree with the decision the son made, but again he showed kindness. It even shows till the end when the son comes home. The Father never says anything about his bad decision; no he runs towards him, wraps his arms around him and puts an expensive coat on him and the family ring on the finger to establish him back. After all the son did, the father never gave what was deserved, no he always gave kindness. During the life of Jesus we see the same thing. He always showed kindness to people that nobody would treat kindly, think about the lepers. These were people that were rejected by society; the only way they could make a living was through begging. But Jesus doesn’t walk away or ignore them; no he shows kindness and brings healing. Or think about the children that came to Jesus. Children didn’t have a very important position in society and were more seen as an annoyance. But Jesus said let them come to me! He extended Kindness.
Last week we had a video of the father in the prodigal son story and how it was so important that the son knew that the father is good to actually come home. We want to write some more about that Father and also some of the character trades Jesus had and we need in our life. To make a difference in the world, the world has to see Jesus in the way we live our lives!
We just started into 2018 that’s why we start off with a video blog with the topic You will only run towards good if you know good! Be inspired!