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“Love the Lord your God with all your heart… AND your neighbor as yourself.” Matthew 22:36-40

As surely as the third characteristic of a resilient disciple is to find a deep and personal love for God, the fourth follows naturally in its path:

Resilient disciples are Christians who (4) express desire to transform the broader society as an outcome of their faith.

Bottom line- resiliency as a Christian will make a difference in my life and the focus my life has on making a difference in my world. Kinnaman concludes, “We must help this emerging generation hear and respond to the voice of Jesus in their lives!” What difference does it make if I “love the Lord my God with all my heart,” and then don’t “love my neighbor as myself?” And who is my neighbor? The story of the Good Samaritan at least implies that my neighbor can be my best friend who lives next door, or it can be someone who thinks or even lives totally differently than me but is in need. It’s anyone and everyone in need. It’s not my job to judge, it’s my job to care. My bottom line is, I may not be best buddies with everyone, but I should never treat anyone unkindly or neglect to help if I am able. My connection with God, His Word, and His people in a personal way makes it possible to connect with hurting people in some way, no matter who they are. I can’t fix the whole world, but I can impact my part of the world. Resilient disciples of Jesus make a difference!

Kinnaman wrote a book called, “You Lost Me,” which I found extremely insightful in trying to understand spirituality and millennials. The article that I have been looking at this week is called, “Faith for Exiles: 5 Ways for a New Generation to Follow Jesus in Digital Babylon,” also by Kinnaman. I highly recommend both as very helpful in today’s spiritual journey.

Have a great day becoming a resilient disciple of Jesus,

Pastor Rich

Quote for the day: “Being negative only makes a difficult journey more difficult. You may be given a cactus, but you don’t have to sit on it.” Joyce Meyer

PS Family Worship – Faculty and staff are inviting you ALL over for supper and the beginning of a Sabbath at “home” in the livingroom! No program in the church this week. We all get to go “home!”

PPS Afterglo- no activity planned on campus so you don’t have to leave your faculty/staff home too early (thought don’t stay too long—they’re all getting “old” and need to go to bed early on Friday night!)

PP.S I realize the survey request that you received this week can take as much as 30 minutes to complete and that’s a big time commitment from your busy lives. Many during your Sabbath break from your busyness you would consider taking the time to provide us with your input so we can know how better to serve you. Thanks for the extra effort. We really appreciate it.

PP..S Safe Quarters is a great way to get service hours AND to give a gift to our community. Safe Quarters is a one-day, community-wide effort to collect financial contributions for victims of domestic violence and their children seeking refuge at Friendship Home. Safe Quarters also exists to raise awareness of domestic violence in Lincoln and Lancaster County and of the resources that are available to assist victims. It happens this Sunday in our Atrium starting at 11am. Get a group of friends and make a difference for this group of hurting people.