Tuesday morning

I have decided to use my blog for the next few weeks to reflect on what I plan to preach on Sunday as well as other ideas that might have some connection no matter how tenuous that might be. This week the lectionary is from the Gospel of John chapter 13:31-35 that talks about the new commandment Jesus makes in that we are to love one another. I will also use the Psalm 148 to look at the BHAG of what it means to be a church (Big Hairy Audacious Goal). Today I wanted to share an article from "Crazy Talk" regarding love.
Love not a thing that is blind but the act of actually seeing the needs of others and of putting their needs higher than yourself or your needs.
"You can't love your car. Or your house. Or your rubber ducky. Your car/house/ducky may be nicer than any of ours, but if you 'love' them, you're really just loving what you have--thus, you are just being devoted to your own self, your own pleasure, and your own happiness. If you think you love your car, you need a whack upside the read and a serious reevaluation of priorities.
Love is not a sentiment or an emotion. It is not something you feel but action you take on behalf of others. And love certainly isn't blind. Love stares the suffering and needs of neighbor--and even of the enemy!--hard in the face. And then does something about them.
If you have a problem with this, you might have a problem with God. We are only able to love because God first loved us (see 1 John 3:16). God's very nature is love, since God's actions of creation, redemption, and sanctification are continuous acts of love. Seeing as the world doesn't stop existing for people who are jerks, we can know that God's love is unconditional." (Crazy Talk: A Not-So-Stuffy Dictionary of Theological Terms, Rolf Jacobson editor,2008, p110).

What is interesting about this is that in our study Monday nights on the Beatitudes, the author wrote that much sin is caused by our self-love. We had quite the discussion about self-love and the love of God and neighbor.