Human beings are made for LOVE. Someone said, “Four vital things that make us human: the need to love; the need to be loved; the need to be accepted; and to be respected as a human being…” I can’t agree more with this statement. Every person has a basic need to be loved and accepted.
Do you know that God’s desire for human beings is that they would know they are loved by Him, that they would love Him in return and that they would love one another? (John 3:16; 13:34)
Jesus tells the Pharisees that the greatest commandments are “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind” and “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” (Matt 22:37-39) Jesus, our Master and Saviour lived out these two commandments.
In our pursuit of the need to be loved, however, most of us fail to recognize that we have a parallel need: the need to love and care for others. Many fail to see that we are hard-wired by God for that. The fulfilment of loving others which God builds into our DNA enhances our own happiness. Loving others benefits not just the recipients of our love, but also we who give it.
“The most loving thing we can do for others is love God MORE than we love them (people). For if we love God most, we will love others best.” (Jon Bloom, desiringGod.org) Love in its truest, purest form only comes from God.
That love is self-giving and rich in mercy. Truly if we love God most, we will love others best.
As a community at YCK Chapel, how can we put into practice the greatest commandments? Here are some suggestions…
─Individually, get our fill of God’s love. If we are not feeling enough of God’s love, ask Him to help us experience more of it today.
─Get out of our comfortable corner. We can’t do life by ourselves, join a small group or be a volunteer. The first step will be hard. But don’t let that stop us.
─Ask God to open our eyes and heart to see life around us. Don’t let life’s opportunities to love and be loved, pass us by.
─Ask for God’s grace to be a blessing to someone every day.
─Set aside each week, time for God, time for yourself and time for others. Be specific. Log it into your calendar.
Today, as young parents step up to dedicate themselves and their children to God, let us see how we as the loving community of God at YCK Chapel can come around them and bless them. How can we help these young families thrive for the Kingdom of God? Become Kingdom families? How can we pray for them? How can we support them? As we mouth the pledge to dedicate ourselves to walk alongside them, ask God to help us to look for opportunities to love them, encourage them and serve them.
“My life is full because I am loved. My life is fuller because I am able to love others.”
By Har Lee John, Pastoral Staff (YCKC Bulletin 18 August 2019)