BLESS Booklet PDF
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Even from the beginning it seems that God has had a “blessing strategy” for<br />
humanity. We can trace it all the way back to the origins of the nation of Israel.<br />
God called Abraham to be the start of a new nation, a nation that was going to<br />
be God’s special and chosen nation, that would love God with all that they had.<br />
The formation of Israel was never meant to just involve Israel. This blessing<br />
was two-fold, we know that Jesus comes from the line of Abraham as the<br />
ultimate blessing to all nations - but also God was planning to bless the nations<br />
through Israel. God gives Abraham a promise in Genesis 12:2-3<br />
2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name<br />
great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him<br />
who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be<br />
blessed.”<br />
God’s plan from the outset was to bless Abraham so that others would be<br />
blessed through him. Fast forward to the life and teachings of Jesus and there<br />
is no question that Jesus calls us to live a life of blessing as he commands us<br />
to Love others as ourselves. In fact, Jesus says himself that loving God and<br />
loving others is at the center of his teaching.<br />
“The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.<br />
30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul<br />
and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘You<br />
shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater<br />
than these.”<br />
But what does “loving” our neighbor look like? Often times we take this great<br />
commandment and we tame it down to being “nice” to the folks we run into<br />
during the day. But isn’t love more than niceties in our daily interactions? We<br />
believe it is, and in order to love well it needs to be intentional, take time and be<br />
theologically rooted. We look to the example of Jesus as we seek to take this<br />
charge to love God and love others seriously. In the following pages we will<br />
look at five simple rhythms that can help us love our neighbors well.<br />
1
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