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I feel totally misunderstood.
And, I feel more love than ever from them.
These two statements cannot exist together. Agree? Why? Because no matter how many wonderful gifts, affirming words, acts of service or amounts of time someone gives us, if we do not feel they listen to understand us or do not sincerely care about how we feel, we do not feel fully loved by them.
David Augsburger says, "Being heard is so close to being loved that to the average person, they are almost indistinguishable."
Jesus models the purest and truest love. His love is proven not just by his sacrifice or acts of compassion, but also by how He listens to understand (see Mark 10.35-36 as an example; and also think about how He listens to you pray!).
Jesus loves well.
And we are sent to do the same.
In fact, the command to love one another and love our neighbour echo throughout Jesus' words and the writings and example of the early church.
We must love our spouses well.
We must love our children well.
We must love our family members well.
We must love our neighbour, co-worker, & classmate well.
This is the command of Christ.
This is hard. Especially when someone's view is different than ours or when someone is being difficult. Aren't you glad God loved (and loves) you well when you have been difficult and had different views than his? I am. We need to ask God for His help.
This is why our fourth prayer priority for 2022 is: Big Ears & Big Empathy.
This year, let's pray to love well.
This year, let's pray that we will listen to understand.
This year, let's pray that we will enter into the feelings of others.
Pastor Mike
Ps - if you didn't catch my 6-minute Mini-Message (VIDEO) that was sent out earlier this week, you can catch it here.
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