Doing Life

Over last weekend I had the opportunity to get away and regroup on a short trip. I was at a conference for Free Church youth pastors and their wives. To say the least it was a great time with my wonderful wife. What was so great is that it provided me a lot of time to think and to chew on some things.

Our speaker talked about the two things every Christian is supposed to do: love God and love others. What I love about Christianity is that  it is not really all that complicated. It is not supposed to be suppressive but instead liberating. Jesus is the God of our freedom. He frees us to live the life we were created to live; to love Him and to love others. In fact when Jesus was questioned about the two most important things he said this:

"You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment.  A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments."

-Matthew 22: 37-40 NLT

Jesus didn't make it more complicated, he made it simpler, more liberating, and more intimate. As our speaker worked through his content I kept thinking, "How wonderful it would be if we all could live in a community of people that committed their lives to this." But we do have those communities. They are called church. At least that is what church is supposed to be about. If you want a community like that, let it start in you first, keep it simple. Start by loving Jesus Christ with everything you got (do life with Him) and then love others where they are (do life with them).

Do life together: first with Jesus and then with each other.