The GT Weekend! ~ Neighbor Week 3

May 9, 2020 by Rebecca 1 Comment

The GT Weekend!

At Gracefully Truthful, weekends aren’t for “checking out”.
Use this time to invite the Almighty’s fullness into you life in a deeper way!
Saturdays and Sundays are a chance to
reflect, rest, and re-center our lives onto Christ.
Don’t miss the opportunity to connect with other women in prayer,
rest your soul in reflective journaling,
and spend time worshiping the Creator who
longs for intimacy with each of us!

Worship Through Journaling

1) Oh wounded. We hear the word and we feel the ache of our own wounds. We likely don’t need to reach too far back to feel a wound we’ve endured from another. Or, maybe, we call to mind the shame of knowing how we’ve wounded another. This life is fraught with wounds. Kendra brings on our attention to the main character of our Journey Theme, the Samaritan who was a good neighbor to the one who lay wounded and dying on the road. The physical wounded man was overlooked by the religious ones, but there was another wounded man in this story, the Samaritan neighbor. Samaritans lived with mockery and racial slurs constantly attacking them. Yet, he chose love over bitterness. Does that hit you, Sister? It does me. We are not called to only love those who love us back, but those who have wounded us. Who is that for you? How will you love them this week? Maybe it starts with simply a prayer over them. Will you begin?

2) Forgiveness. An easy word for our lips to form, a difficult task for our hearts to live out with authenticity. Whether the offense is a mountain formed over years, or a sharp word spoken just a few hours ago. May I speak from my own life experience for a moment? I’ve realized I just don’t have the ability to forgive. I love myself too much. I like revenge. I like payback that is equal to or greater than what I was served. One pastor helped my heart along significantly by giving me freedom to admit I couldn’t forgive offenses, but Christ in me, He can. When I humble myself before the Lord, when I remember how big of a sinner I am and how much I have been forgiven, Christ fills me with His power to forgive. Who is Lord calling you to forgive through His power?

3) I don’t know about you, but I’m guessing that, like me, you know what it feels like to have unmet expectations by those you love. Frustration springs up quickly for me when I find myself breathing in the air of unmet expectations. I love them, they love me, so why would they not do X or Y or P, L, Q for that matter?! Choosing to pick up love instead of offense is always a choice we have in our relationships. Love is what the Samaritan chose, when he had every reason to keep walking past the man on the road. Though our reasons may be fully justified as to why we should be offended, let’s decide together to pick up the gift of love instead! Oh Lord, help us to love well this week!

Praying Scripture back to the One who wrote it in the first place is a great way to jump start our prayer-life! Pray this passage from Luke 7:41-43 back to the Lord and
let His Spirit speak to you through it!

“A certain moneylender had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. When they could not pay, he cancelled the debt of both. Now which of them will love him more?” Simon answered, “The one, I suppose, for whom he cancelled the larger debt.” And he said to him, “You have judged rightly.”

Prayer Journal
Remind me, oh Lord, of my sin. Not with waves of guilt or condemnation, but to keep before me how rich Your immeasurable mercies of forgiveness are that have been given to me. Clear my eyesight so I can see Your holiness more plainly. Sweep my heart clean of any thoughts of what is owed me because of my own righteousness and flood me with Your love. Cast out fear of judgement and greedy stinginess of pride, and give me anew, every single moment, a greater awareness of Your vast love and deep forgiveness. Let me pour that over those around me with as much gentleness, care, and love that You extend to me. Teach me to love like You, Lord Jesus!

Worship Through Community

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Send us an email at prayer@gracefullytruthful.com

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Comment Here or in our Facebook Community Group!

Worship Through Prayer

Worship Through Music

Neighbor Day 12 The Neighbor Who Wounds: Digging Deeper

May 5, 2020 by Rachel Jones Leave a Comment

Digging Deeper Days

Finding the original intent of Scripture and making good application to our everyday lives as we become equipped to correctly handle the Word of Truth!

Yesterday’s Journey Study connects with today’s!
Check out The Neighbor Who Wounds!

The Questions

1) How do I love my neighbor as I love myself?

2) Why is it important to show mercy to others?

3) What must we do to inherit eternal life, as the expert in the law asked?

Luke 10:25-37

Then an expert in the law stood up to test him, saying, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

²⁶“What is written in the law?” he asked him. “How do you read it?”

²⁷He answered, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,” and “your neighbor as yourself.”

²⁸“You’ve answered correctly,” he told him. “Do this and you will live.”
²⁹But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
³⁰Jesus took up the question and said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him, beat him up, and fled, leaving him half dead. ³¹A priest happened to be going down that road. When he saw him, he passed by on the other side. ³²In the same way, a Levite, when he arrived at the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. ³³But a Samaritan on his journey came up to him, and when he saw the man, he had compassion. ³⁴He went over to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on olive oil and wine. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. ³⁵The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him. When I come back I’ll reimburse you for whatever extra you spend.’

³⁶“Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?”
³⁷“The one who showed mercy to him,” he said. Then Jesus told him, “Go and do the same.”

Original Intent

1) How do I love my neighbor as I love myself?
In the book of Leviticus, God gave Moses the laws of holiness for the Israelites to follow. One of them, “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18), is mentioned again in Luke 10:27 when a teacher of the law suggests to Jesus how he might inherit eternal life by following this law. The teacher mentions this command along with the great command to love God with all your heart. (Deuteronomy 6:5) The Old Testament command to love your neighbor as yourself is very similar to the Golden Rule, found in Matthew 7:12, “Therefore, whatever you want others to do for you, do also the same for them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.” Pastor John Piper suggests, “Loving our neighbor as we love ourselves is the visible expression and manifestation and practical completion and fulfillment of all that the Old Testament was about, including love for God.” We show God love when we love others with the love of God. We love God well when we love all those He loves, no matter what. As author David Guzik explains, “my neighbor is the one who others might consider my enemy. My neighbor is the one with a need right in front of me.” To love your neighbor as yourself is to treat other people the way you want them to treat you. It is to reach out to the one near you, no matter what she looks like or what she believes, and give her the same treatment you would hope to receive from her.

2) Why is it important to show mercy to others?
In Luke 10:25-37, Jesus tells the parable of the Good Samaritan in answer to a question from a lawyer. If the law says to love your neighbor as yourself, then how do you define neighbor? (Luke 10:29) Jesus tells of a Samaritan who stopped to help a Jewish man beaten by robbers, even though two Jewish religious leaders passed by without helping. The Jews and Samaritans had a long history of hatred between them. As Robert Deffinbaugh explains, “When the Assyrians defeated Israel, they dispersed the Israelites of the Northern Kingdom among the Gentile nations. They also brought foreigners into the land of Israel to re-populate the land. The result was a half-breed race (half Jewish, half Gentile) that populated the Northern Kingdom of Israel from then on.” So, even though Samaritans were hated by Jewish people, the Samaritan in the parable had compassion on the wounded man. When Jesus asked who was the neighbor in this story, the lawyer answered, “The one who showed mercy to him.” (Luke 10:37) As author Albert Barnes notes, “His Jewish prejudice [against Samaritans] would not permit him to name the Samaritan.” Why would the Samaritan help when the two Jewish leaders would not? He helped because he was merciful. It is just as important for us to show mercy in our daily lives, because Jesus has given mercy to us. As author Scott Sauls notes, “We make it our aim to love as we have been loved by Jesus, to show mercy as we have been shown mercy by Jesus, and to bear burdens as our burdens have been borne by Jesus.” We love and show mercy because God loves us and is merciful to us. When we reach out in mercy in the name of Jesus, we are declaring the mercy of our Savior.

3) What must we do to inherit eternal life, as the expert in the law asked?
In Luke 10:25, we meet a teacher of the law (some versions refer to him as a lawyer) who asks Jesus a question, “Then an expert in the law stood up to test him, saying, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” According to author Thomas Constable, “the term inherit had a particular significance for Jewish readers distinguishing a special way of receiving eternal life. (Matthew 5:5; Matthew 19:29; Matthew 25:34). However, Gentile readers for whom Luke wrote would have regarded it as synonymous with obtaining eternal life (Mark 10:17). Eternal life is the equivalent of spiritual salvation and included entrance into the messianic kingdom.” Peter Pett echoes this, pointing out that “Canaan had been Israel’s inheritance. But now that inheritance is replaced by ‘eternal life,’ the life of the age to come, life under the Kingly Rule of God. That now was what all Israel sought for.” For Jewish people at this time, gaining eternal life was not about living forever but rather about living a godly life and following God’s laws completely. This is seen in the teacher’s answer when Jesus throws the question back to him in Luke 10:27 by saying, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,” and “your neighbor as yourself.” As author Peter Pett explains, “The Scribe points first to the Shema (Deuteronomy 6:5), which was repeated twice daily by every pious orthodox Jew, and was borne by many on the forehead in a leather pouch at the hour of prayer.” The last part of his answer came from Leviticus 19:18. Jesus knew that there was no way to love God perfectly and love others apart from knowing God, which was why He came to earth. He came to give us a way to live in His kingdom while we are on earth and when we go to heaven.

Everyday Application

1) How do I love my neighbor as I love myself?
I want to see myself like the hero of the parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:25-37. After all, I am compassionate and caring, but sometimes I am more like the clergymen who ignored the dying man. Too often I choose not to see some of my neighbors in need. According to author Christine Caine, loving our neighbor is a “decision we must make to open our eyes, take notice, elevate our thinking, and reach out to meet the needs of those around us.” We don’t get to decide who God wants us to love, He wants us to show love to everyone! Sometimes it seems easier to love those who look and talk like me, whose ways I understand. John Wesley cautioned us against displaying “insensibility for all the human race, but a small number whose sentiments and practices are so much our own, that our love to them is but self- love reflected.” I want to love the neighbor God puts in my path the way I would love myself because I love God. That will not just be the neighbor who is like me or who is convenient to love, though it includes her. While it is not possible to care for the needs of everyone, it is possible to reach out to those around me where I am right now. That means the widow at book club who is falling into depression, the single mom getting resources from the food pantry, and the refugee family at school who seems overwhelmed and afraid. If they are within my reach, they are my neighbor.

2) Why is it important to show mercy to others?
Once, as a child, I was playing with two cousins when we had the idea to throw rocks at birds’ nests. We were having fun until we knocked a nest from a low-hanging branch and found a chirping baby bird inside. We were devastated! We tried to return the bird and the remains of the nest back to the safety of its limb, but we couldn’t. We ran crying to our parents, and each child was punished. I could hear how the others’ punishments were going with lots of yelling and crying. However, my parents gently discussed with me what had happened and why it was wrong. They could have punished me severely, as my cousins’ parents did them, but instead they showed mercy, though I didn’t deserve it. I deserved to be punished for destroying a bird’s nest and leaving the hatchling with no way to survive. My parents felt my sorrow had taught me a more valuable lesson than severe punishment could. This reminds me of the fact that “Because of the Lord’s faithful love we do not perish, for his mercies never end. They are new every morning.” (Lamentations 3:22-23) When Jesus told the story of the merciful Good Samaritan, He told the listeners to be like the Good Samaritan and “go and do the same”. (Luke 10:37) We must be merciful because people need to know about the merciful Savior who desires to save them from the punishment they deserve. Paul tells us in Ephesians 2:4-5 that “God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love that he had for us, made us alive with Christ even though we were dead in trespasses. . .”. When we show mercy, we are reflecting the love and mercy shown to us by God whose mercy triumphs over judgment! (James 2:13)

3) What must we do to inherit eternal life, as the expert in the law asked?
The verse in Luke 10:25, can be confusing because the teacher of the law asks what he can do to inherit eternal life. To me that sounds like he is trying to earn his way to heaven. It is reminiscent of the rich young ruler in Mark 10:17 who asks Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life. In Luke, the teacher mentions the two great commandments, to love God with all your heart and to love your neighbor as yourself. (Luke 10:27) In Mark, Jesus mentions the Ten Commandments and selling all to come follow Jesus. (Mark 10:19-21) Both answers dismay the petitioners because, as author David Guzik points out, “It is clear enough what it means to love God with all we are, though it is impossible to do completely.” Jesus is not suggesting the men can earn a spot in heaven with their good behavior. Instead, He is pointing out the fact that He has come to fulfill the law (Matthew 5:17) so they do not need to do the impossible, which is to be perfect. In John 5:39-40, Jesus says, “You pore over the Scriptures because you think you have eternal life in them, and yet they testify about me. But you are not willing to come to me so that you may have life.” When we accept the life Jesus offers, we have life abundant here on earth and life forever in heaven. With the help of Jesus, we can love God and love others. We can give sacrificially and serve God with abandon because of His strength empowering us. We don’t need to struggle to obey all the rules and follow all the laws because we know His righteousness covers us. We just need to accept Jesus and allow Him to work through us, giving us an empowered life.

What do YOU think?! Share Here!
Missing the connection to our other Journey Study?
Catch up with The Neighbor Who Wounds!

Digging Deeper is for Everyone!

1) Take this passage (or any other passage).
2) Read it, and the verses around it,
several times
3) Write down your questions
as you think of them.
4) Ask specific culture related questions and be ready to dig around for your answers. Google them, use www.studylight.org, or look them up in a study Bible and read the footnotes (click on the little letters next to a word and it will show you
other related verses!). (www.esvbible.org)
5) Check your applications with other trusted Christians that you are in community with and embrace the fullness of God
in your everyday!

Digging Deeper Community

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Our Current Study Theme!

This is Neighbor Week Three!
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Why Dig Deeper?

Finding the original meaning is a huge deal when we study Scripture and can make all the difference in our understanding as we apply God’s truths to our everyday lives.

In our modern-day relationships, we want people to understand our original intention as we communicate; how much more so between God and humanity?!

Here’s a little bit more on why we take Digging Deeper so seriously.

Study Tools

We love getting help while we study and www.studylight.org is one of many excellent resources, providing the original Hebrew (Old Testament) or Greek (New Testament) with an English translation.

Want to know more about a specific word in a verse? Click on “Strong’s Interlinear Bible” then click the word you’d like to study. Discover “origin”, “definition” and hear the original pronunciation – That Is Awesome!

Want more background? Click “Study Tools”, then pick a few commentaries to read their scholarly approach, keeping in mind that just because a commentary says it, doesn’t mean it’s true. (just like the internet :-))

Memorize It!

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Neighbor Day 3 For The Love

April 22, 2020 by Rebecca Leave a Comment

Read His Words Before Ours!

Luke 10:25-37
1 Peter 4:7-16
John 13:1-15

Neighbor, Day 3

Then an expert in the law stood up to test Him, saying,
“Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
(Luke 10:25)

Do.
What must I DO….to inherit eternal life.

When I said, “I do” to my husband, like any other wife, I had no idea what I was saying yes to.

I thought I was saying yes to….
Lifelong happiness.
A good partner.
Someone who would always cheer me on.
A leader I would always want to follow.
Never feeling alone.

What I didn’t think I was saying yes to….
Feeling alone for huge chunks of our marriage.
Wondering if I’d married the “wrong person”.
Feeling more encouraged by my barista than my husband.
Wondering how we could disagree about so. many. things.
Making plans for how to survive if he left me.
Long seasons of sadness.

Eventually, when all my expectations kept falling flat, and I realized I just might not get that “happily ever after”, I was ready to throw it all away…and blame God in the process.

I had stayed in the marriage.
I had been loving and kind. (well….mostly)
I had done the hard relational work.
I had been patient.
I had been prayerful.

I felt I had “done” everything I could, and God….well, He should have done something more…

He should have changed my husband.
He should have made marriage easier.
He should have made us more similar than different.
This was His fault.

If Jesus had been living on earth in physical form around years 7-8 of my marriage (and 9-10, and 11-13…), I probably would have driven over to His house and had a little “come to Jesus meeting.”

And it probably would have looked quite a bit like the conversation between Jesus and the lawyer recorded in Luke’s gospel.

What else could I possibly DO for You to give me a good marriage, Jesus?!
Do you not see how hard I’ve worked here?
Do you not see how hard this is?
What more must I do?!

When the lawyer approached Jesus that afternoon in Jerusalem, he had an agenda, and it wasn’t a heart-felt, how-can-I-change-to-honor-God attitude, either. He wanted to justify himself before this carpenter man from no-good Nazareth who claimed to be the Promised Messiah. He wanted the mic drop moment, where Jesus would be forced to give props to the lawyer and all his astounding “goodness”.

Jesus’ answered the lawyer, the expert on the law, by turning his question back on him with such poignancy, such directness, yet such intimate tenderness, it was impossible to miss Jesus’ heart for people.

In His own culture, Jesus did what I imagine He would have done for me if I had stormed His house with my own agenda. In my mind, He would have poured me a coffee and sat with me on the front steps while I poured out my frustrations, along with a solid dose of self-righteousness. Then, when I took a breath, He would have begun sharing a story. A story about me. A story I would be drawn into. A story that would take my breath away with its accuracy.

“A man was going down from Jerusalem….”, Jesus began, immediately arresting the attention of all those around Him, especially the lawyer. His story went on, full of nuances the expert of the Law would not have missed, while making His point that both examples of self-righteous souls in His story severely missed the mark precisely because they were keenly focused on their ability to perform and do.

Then, unexpectedly, there was a third character in Jesus’ story. A man who simply by being mentioned, would have turned the stomachs of those listening, especially our lawyer friend. The lawyer’s fists began to tighten and the color rushed to his cheeks as the despised man of the story turned out to be the hero instead of the righteous doers.

Without missing a single beat, Jesus looked squarely in the lawyer’s eyes (and mine), and asked, “Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?

Perhaps it was with clenched teeth and a stubborn insistence to not roll his eyes, the lawyer responded with resignation, “The one…” How it galled him that the hero was from a people group he loathed with every fiber of his being! He took a big gulp of air and quickly finished, “The one who showed mercy.”

Again, in a nanosecond, Jesus would have picked up our empty coffee cups, tossed me my car keys from the front stoop, and said with that kind, gentle, firm voice,
“Go and do the same.”

Dumbfounded, and awash with the kind of realization that just keeps hitting you like ocean waves, I would walk back to my car knowing I had a single calling in my marriage, to love like that man who was the very least likely to love.

I was called to be merciful.
I was called to be a good neighbor, not a self-righteous one.
I had been invited, by the Lord of All, to love my husband deeply, and continuously, because the Jesus-kind-of-love covers a multitude of sins. (1 Peter 4:8)

What could the lawyer do to earn eternal life?
Nothing.
Absolutely nothing.
So how could he access eternity?
By becoming like the Savior, which is only possible by a complete heart-transplant. Death to the old way of doing things, and coming alive to the love of Jesus and His mercy by trusting Him for salvation alone. No work of ours could suffice.

This really wasn’t about how my husband should change.
This was about my willingness to look at Jesus’ perfection instead of my marital flaws. When I found satisfaction in Christ, He fueled me to love my husband in a way that truly honored Him.

With startling clarity, as I reflected on that coffee meeting with Jesus that afternoon, I was reminded of another scene.
One where smelly, dirt-caked feet were held by the Master of the Universe and gently washed. Humility paired beautifully with lavish, divine love. Humility picked up feet that didn’t deserve His attention, and love bathed them with tenderness.
Christ’s words after giving such a majestic gift?
“Go and do the same.”

Being a neighbor to my husband means washing feet.
It means humility and love and tender mercy.
None of which are possible in my own human strength. I need divine intervention for this calling, which is why I need Jesus and His love to make me new.
For the love of Jesus, I can love my man.
For the love of Christ, I can go, and do the same as my Lord has done for me.

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Thanks for joining us today as we journeyed into Neighbor Week One! Don’t miss out on the discussion below – we’d love to hear your thoughts!

Looking for other journeys from this theme?
Here’s a link to all past studies in Neighbor!