There is a lot of evidence in the scriptures that we serve a God who is naturally oriented against injustice. The concepts of anger and compassion can be so closely linked. Is it okay to be angry and filled with compassion at the same time? Perhaps when there is a sacred presence, these two emotions actually fuel the same desire: to see love and healing take place. And when that doesn't happen, there is a felt sense of anger and a felt sense of sorrow.

When we see ourselves being jealous, boastful, arrogant, inconsiderate, or self-seeking it is a sign that something is off in our heart. We have stopped considering others and instead we are competing against them or using them to fill up our own sense of worth. But when this failure to love shows up it is a sign of a much deeper problem, not with each other but with God. Until we know our worth in God we will not be able to love others as God would have us love them.

Love is not a feeling, it a decision to seek to do good in a world of sin and evil. Following the most excellent way means that we choose to let go of our records of wrong and we are not quick to come to our own defense. Instead we choose to bear with others and show mercy in order to reflect the heart of God so that we might live and love like Jesus.

In a society that had become obsessed with wealth, status, and power Paul writes a powerful word on how to live in the most superior way. He issues the warning that when we pursue persuasion, wisdom, and sacrifice apart from love our lives become noisy, meaningless, and useless. If love is not the driving force in our lives then everything we do is for selfish gain and ambition.

John writes to the church in Leodicia, he sends a powerful message of being lukewarm that applies to us even today. While it's possible to be poor and somehow be rich, it's also possible to be very rich and still somehow be very poor. And it leaves us with one very important question – What do I have that I can use to make someone else's life better?

At face value, Jephthah looks faithful. But as we dig deeper into his story in Judges 11, we learn things aren't quite as they seem. As we see, Jephthah soon became the very evil he was fighting against. The same can be said for us when we are so bent on being right, that we forget the humanity and Jesus' command to love; we become a people who believe we are doing the right thing, but end up doing more harm than good.

We are created by relational God to be in relationship with other people. We are taught by Jesus to be kind, loving, and generous to all, and we read lots of instructions in the New Testament about how we are to treat one another. If living in relationship with other people is part of the Christian journey- why is it so hard?! When difficult people, the needs of others, and not knowing our relational capacities cause us “relational overload,” we can look to Jesus to see how to preserve our well being and get back on mission.

Do you own your stuff, or does your stuff own you? For many of us, we have more stuff than we know what to do with, and yet we continue to just keep buying more. But Jesus tells us life is more than the accumulation of material wealth. While the world tells us more is more, the Christian discipline of simplicity can help set us free from our constant consumption and have a proper perspective on true benefit of worldly possessions.

There are so many things demanding our time: work, family, leisure, friends, entertainment…it is easy to feel overloaded and rushed. Then when you try to add in growing deeper with God it feels impossible to fit it all in. But to be a follower of Jesus is a demanding call. Jesus does not want SOME of your time, he wants ALL of your time, because we cannot hear from God when we live a hurried life. Yet when we learn to put Jesus at the center of our life He radically shifts the way we see time and how we live in it, giving us margin to live as God would have us live.

Sinners with nothing to loose are naturally drawn to Jesus. He affirms their dignity, forgives them of their sins, and welcomes them with open arms. Jesus wants everyone to have unobstructed access to him, but ultra religious people often block their way. Those who follow Jesus should approach him with the same love and devotion as the woman who anointed his feet, and they should commit themselves to helping all people get close to him.