When our computers get bogged down and unmanageable, we know to hit a reset button to simply start over. Wouldn’t a reset button be great in life?

New years is that opportunity for many.  Perhaps you read about the giant shredder that they set up for “Good Riddance Day” in New York City’s Times Square.  People could bring any bad memories they wanted to shred, to start fresh in 2014.

That’s small scale, though. We know it would be complicated, with all our responsibilities and routines to consider, but imagine the freedom and refreshment of a new start in life! What would you do differently? What would you pay more attention to, and what would you ignore? How would you avoid getting bogged down and broken again?

Question: If you could reset something, or everything in life, what would it be?  What’s stopping you?

Reminder: Coffee hours are this Wednesday Thursday night at 7:30pm at Starbucks in the Ajax Chapters Store.

Reminder: We are reading the Bible in sync as one community – so check out today’s reading here.

Reminder: The best way to grow spiritually this year is to join our Christianity 101 in the Cafe Course in Pickering starting January 22nd. Register for you and a friend today!

Read the Bible in Sync Today

Ryan Sim - September 11, 2013

Wednesday - Change It - Neighbours Matter

So what is the connection between loving God and loving our neighbour? If there is real love of God, there will be love for ourselves, and love for our neighbour. See how complete Jesus reminds us this love for God is meant to be: all our heart, soul and mind. We are so often tempted to hold something back. We want to love ourselves on our own terms – to love ourselves fully, like we should love God. But that would lead to a world full of Gods, and how would that work out? Or we are tempted to put these two loves in opposition. I can either be good, ethical, and law-abiding to love God, or I can just love people. The problem with this is that true love of our neighbour flows from the love ofGod. Our love for God leads to love of our neighbours, which leads us to want to act right toward them. Without love for God, and an experience of his love, we each have to define love for ourselves, and we all have different ideas about what love is! We’ll see tomorrow how Jesus’ self-giving love sets the pattern for our love, while freeing us from the traps of loving ourselves first, trying to use others to earn our salvation, or any other attempt to manipulate God or others. Question: Define love.

Related Topics: God, Love, Neighbours | More Messages from Ryan Sim | Download Audio

From Series: "Won't You Be My Neighbour?"

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