Faith In The City

If you don't know where to start, start with love.That line has been on repeat in my head since this morning. A lot of us stand at the edge of faith wondering what we're supposed to do first, worried about getting it wrong, worried about some checklist we don't even know exists. The truth is simpler than all of that.My command is this: love each other as I have loved you. John 15:12. Jesus said a lot of things that carry weight, but this is the one that sums up everything else. If you're not sure where to begin, begin here.So what does loving the way he loved actually look like? I read something this morning called Love Compelled Him, and it broke it down in a way that finally made it click for me.Love compelled Jesus to give up his privileges. He could have done whatever he wanted with his power and his position. Instead he set his rights aside so we could be made right with God.Love compelled Jesus to prioritize people. The woman at the well. The man with leprosy. A Roman officer. A blind beggar. Peter's mother in law. A widow's son. A tax collector everyone else despised. The thief hanging next to him on the cross. He saw people instead of problems, every single time, no exceptions.Love compelled Jesus to serve. He washed his disciples' feet himself. He went after the people everyone else had given up on. He had compassion for the sick and the broken, and in the end he gave his own life for it.Love compelled Jesus to hold truth and grace together. He never picked one over the other. He was serious about God's word and just as serious about showing compassion to the people who needed it most.Here's where I had to think about it for myself for a minute. If love means prioritizing people, where does that leave me? Am I supposed to put everyone else first and forget myself in the process?The answer I came to is different than that. Jesus prioritized people, and he also walked away to pray by himself. He rested. He set boundaries when he needed to. Loving people well was never about emptying yourself out until there's nothing left to give. It's about loving yourself the right way so you actually have something real to offer. It's not you against everyone else competing for the same love. It never was that.So if you're wondering how to start, you don't need a theology degree and you don't need to have it all figured out first. Start with how you're loving the people in front of you right now. Are you patient with them. Are you kind. Are you generous and humble even when it's hard to be. Put yourself on that list too, because you matter just as much as the people you're trying to love well.This is the prayer I'm carrying today, and maybe it's yours too.Holy Spirit, thank you for helping me live this out. I want to prioritize others, serve the people around me, and share the love of Jesus with the people who need it first.That's the whole starting point. Love serves. Love gives grace. Love tells the truth. Start there, and let everything else build from it.Peace, Love and Joy always, TanyaInfiniteFaithandFavor.com

Matthew 22:36-40. Someone asked Jesus which commandment in the entire law was the greatest, and He did not make them wait for the answer. Love God with everything you are. And love the people around you the same way you love yourself. That is it. That is the whole thing.The Bible keeps coming back to this. John 13:35 says people will know we belong to Jesus by how we love one another. 1 Peter 4:8 says love covers a multitude of sins. Over and over, scripture points us back to the same place.Love is the center of what it means to follow Jesus.And one of the hardest ways to live that out is forgiving people who hurt you. I want to be clear that I am not talking about easy forgiveness, the kind that does not cost you anything. I am talking about the kind where you genuinely feel the weight of what someone did and you choose love anyway. That is where the rubber meets the road.I have struggled with that. I will not pretend I have not. Forgiving people who I feel hurt me has been a real challenge. It is less of a challenge than it used to be, and I give God credit for that, but I am not going to stand here and tell you it has been simple.Here is what I think though. If you nail loving people the way God loves you, I think you are golden.Not because you have perfect church attendance. Not because you can recite chapter and verse. Not because your career is impressive or your family looks right from the outside. God is not keeping score on any of that. Love is patient. Love is kind. Love is generous. Love does not judge. And if that is not what is coming out of us, none of the other stuff is going to matter the way we think it does.So today, ask God to show you how He wants you to love the people in your life. Ask Him to fill your heart with a deep love for others. Not a love you manufacture on your own, because that runs out. A love He grows in you.That is the assignment.Peace, Love and Joy always, TanyaInfiniteFaithandFavor.com