God’s Word speaks to each of us in different ways. Through particular verses God provides the impetus to change our direction in life for the long term, and sometimes God gives us just the right verses to impact specific seasons in our lives. Over the next few weeks, we thought we would share with you a few of our favorite verses. In a devotional series we’re calling A Few of Our Favorite Things, you’ll hear from some of our pastors and volunteers as they share how God’s Word has impacted them.
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second [commandment] is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”
The longer I have lived, I have come to appreciate the value of a simple faith. It becomes the solid rock on which I stand. When my kids were young, I found myself having a lot of “do this, don’t do that” teaching moments. There were many times when one child would complain that “someone did ___(I’m sure you can fill in the blank) to me, ” so they lashed back and usually not in a nice way. I started asking them to think about what they should do based on these verses. If you love God, how would He want you to respond in ways that reflect your love for Him? If they/we adopt that we should love our neighbors as ourselves then we can show acceptance, compassion and forgiveness because that is what God has shown to us.
Maybe it was for my own sanity, having five kids, but it saved me from having to use a lot of words that could be clouded by the emotions of the moment. The beauty was the simplicity of making decisions based on loving God and loving others. Our brains can get overwhelmed with all the voices that want to give opinions on how we should live. But I find that when I frame my decisions based on the simplicity of loving God and loving others, the choices, while not always easy, become more clear as to how I should respond.
Cindi Prince
KidZone Director
