So to follow up with last weeks blog, how did you start with being more incarnational in your community?
When we read over the verse in Mark 12.30 -31 we notice that there are 3 things Jesus is saying. First of all he is saying love God! Yes that is the key thing to all of it. Secondly he is saying love your neighbor, that is something we talked about for the last 9 months. But then he is saying one more thing on how we should love our neighbor? We should love him as ourselves. So to be able to truly love our neighbors we have to love ourselves.
Recently I heard a really good message on that topic from our Pastor. He was talking about how we can only truly love others if we also know how loved we are. Sometimes we think it is prideful if we say good things about ourselves, but the reality is its actually admitting to what God is saying about us. Think about the story of the prodigal son especially towards the end. The son comes home and the father tells him to leave and never come back. No of course not, we all know that he he runs towards him, puts a robe over his pig smelling body and hugs him. So even if we mess up and have failures in our lives God still loves us. So if he does we need to do that too! When we accept that love from him and live in it and start seeing ourselves the way God sees us and also love ourselves, we will even leave a greater impact on others. We show them through our faults and failures that we can still love ourselves because our father loves us. And what greater thing do we have to offer to people then the love of Jesus and that they are truly loved.
So with all this writing we want to encourage you to look at your own life and see where you talk bad about yourself or where you don’t like yourself. Ask God to help you to love yourself. It will make a huge difference for you, but also for your neighbors.
Hey our friend
We hope you had a great week! Last Sunday Jen and I were preaching on finances and trusting God in every area of our life at a church in the bay area. It was a wonderful time. We also had a community night at the YWAM Base in the Tenderloin which was a real encouragement too. Its always nice seeing our family. Speaking about family, next week family from Germany is coming to visit!! I am so excited!!
Don’t forget this week to start asking God how he sees you and how you can love yourself more!
Have a blessed week
Markus and Jen
We still miss our beloved neighbors and we pray that your love for your neighbors increased.
sure they were not the same as in their own environment but they adjusted. But while adjusting they still stayed true to who they are. They are still loudly talking to each other and hang out in their big group.
I lived in San Francisco for about 13 years now and Jen 7 which is a long time. One of the things I can say about this place is that you have always something going on. If it is a concert, sports, meetups, dinners etc., you name it and it is probably there. Doesn’t it sound awesome that you have so many choices? Yes in some ways it is, but in others it actually isn’t. Let me explain: Many people stand in front of so many choices and don’t know what to accept and what not. With that it creates often the answer maybe. So if something better comes up you can still skip out on the other thing. But the problem with that is, you will never be able to build deeper relationships if you always hope for something better. To build good friendships with people around you, you have to commit. You have to say yes and whatever comes along doesn’t matter, because you are important to me. So the problem with no strong friendships is actually often created by our lack of commitment or of the other person. Because if you don’t commit, that person has a hard time to commit, because everything depends on you and if you say last minute yes or no. So to be able to be committed we have to learn to say no. Yes there are always great opportunities out there, but it doesn’t mean we have to take all of them. Choose one and stick with it! When Jesus choose his disciples he was committed to them and stood with them till the end. He didn’t choose all people he could have had relationship with, he just choose 12!
This weeks vide blog is about sharing the One we care most about! Be inspired!!
One of the things many people are longing for is a place of belonging, a family. When you provide hospitality in your home you invite your neighbors into family. I remember a thanksgiving meal at our house where we went around the table and had everyone share what they were thankful for and the answer was pretty much the same for everyone that came; the feeling of family around this table. When you open up your home and invite neighbors in it is different than if you go out to a restaurant, You invite people into your home and your family. So hosting a dinner can change the perspective someone has about family. Some people might have never had a loving family, but now experience being loved. Some people might have never received an invitation to a home, but now they are sitting at the table eating dinner together. In Psalms it talks about that God will put the lonely into families and we can all have a part in that by offering hospitality. But its not just a great thing for the neighbor that joins you, its also a blessing for you. Our lives are so enriched by neighbors being family to us too. Home doesn’t end at our fence anymore but it spills over into many other houses around us!