Jesus indicated that one should worry less about who “who is my neighbor” and more about “am I being a neighbor”. Eternal life is gained by faith expressed in love, and this love should lead us to be a neighbor to all people…not just some people. For the next week, ask yourself these three questions each day. How can I love God better today than I did yesterday? How can I love my neighbor better today than I did yesterday? How is my love for God evident in my love for the people around me?

Luke 7:36 – 50 tells the story of an anonymous woman, who was a known sinner at the time, and her interaction with Jesus. Upon seeing Jesus, she weeps, bows at His feet, washes Jesus’ feet with her tears, and wipes them with her hair. We never hear a word from her in Scripture, but she speaks through her actions. Though she sinned, her actions were forgiven and her actions reflected her gratefulness and reverence towards God. Those who have been forgiven much, love much. Our actions should communicate how much we’ve been forgiven. What do your actions communicate? Are you willing to go against cultural norms for your actions to highlight how much you’ve been forgiven?

Since faith is only as good as the object we place it in, who are you placing your faith in? Ask God to make clear what areas He can help you have greater faith and confidence in Him.

The little we have is never enough to meet the needs of people, but when surrendered to Jesus, Jesus is more than enough to your needs!

God is capable of changing our eyes, heart, and mind. He opens the eyes of the blind and heals the disappointed heart. Is your heart right, so you can see Him while He's working?

How do you encourage people who have lost everything to continue to have hope? How do you encourage people who have experienced trial after trial and test after test to continue to cling to the expectation that things can and will get better? "Hopeless" means having no expectation of good or success. A feeling of futility and passive abandonment of oneself to fate. Do we have a reason to have hope? Peter reminds these believers and us that Jesus and his resurrection is our Reason for Hope. Because of our hope in Christ, we know that Jesus is with us, for us, in us, and is working on our behalf! Don't give up on hope.

What does it mean to live in forgiveness? We have all sinned and fallen short of God’s glory, but we have been forgiven through Jesus’ death on the cross. Jesus took our punishment, though we didn’t deserve it, and it was freely given! Because of His sacrifice, we are now standing in a right relationship with God and are no longer subject to His judgement! The same way God forgave us, we are to also forgive others. Because we are God’s people, we must act like God in our relationships by practicing forgiveness.

What does it mean to live in forgiveness? We have all sinned and fallen short of God’s glory, but we have been forgiven through Jesus’ death on the cross. Jesus took our punishment, though we didn’t deserve it, and it was freely given! Because of His sacrifice, we are now standing in a right relationship with God and are no longer subject to His judgement! The same way God forgave us, we are to also forgive others. Because we are God’s people, we must act like God in our relationships by practicing forgiveness.

Reflecting on the entirety of Hebrews we see that Jesus is God’s Son, He was sent to destroy the power of sin and death, and released us from slavery to it (Hebrews 2). Jesus’ work on the cross was perfect and complete. As a result, we have a new position in Jesus Christ, and this new position should motivate us to practice personal devotion, spiritual consistency, and communal responsibility. Don’t disconnect! Who are you currently spurring on in love and good deeds? Do you know of a believer who is drifting from the Lord? How can you get involved? How would you go about encouraging him/her in love?

We have an exceedingly, abundantly, above all God who deserves more than good....He deserves our best!