FOSTER CARE 18 February 2025 www.goodnewsfl.org Good News • South Florida edition February is known for a lot of wonderful things – one of the things that comes to mind the most is love. In fact, for me, not only does the month of February hold Valentine's Day, but it's also my wife Rochelle and daughter Olivia’s birthday on the same day! February holds a lot of love! So when February starts, I start thinking a lot about love. The scripture that stands out for me is in Matthew 22:36-40 where Jesus shares the great commandment. And isn’t it interesting that the great commandment is quite literally commanding us to love? This major pillar of our faith, this great action being asked of us, this direction we receive straight from Jesus, it’s about the action of love. The word “command” brings up other memories for me in my early work as a Child Protective Investigator; I often received subpoenas that read, "You are commanded to appear." I remember having trouble with that language, thinking, “You can’t command me to do this.” It felt so forceful in a way, and because this was a law, it carried so much formality, weightiness and, of course, consequences. But the courts needed this kind of heavy handedness to get compliance. What’s interesting about that to me is that Jesus didn’t need any of that to make this bold commandment. When Jesus commands us to action, He needs no grand declaration from a court or penalties from a government because what He asks of us is to love. Where love starts In this great commandment we see Jesus start with loving God, which tells us it’s the foundation of all of our other love. Our love for Him should possess every part of our soul, every part of our heart, and every part of our mind. So in everything we feel and do, the centerpiece of our life, the center and seat of who we are, this should be based in our love for God. It's powerful if we can orient ourselves to involving Him in every second of every day, not as something that's burdensome or cumbersome, but actually as the presence He desires to be in our everyday lives. Love that goes out The second part of the great commandment is huge, not only are we to love God, but also love our neighbors. Our neighbors are not only those who live next door but it’s everyone in your sphere of influence. Everyone that you can encounter day to day, your coworker, the business you visit, the people you see at the grocery store, the people at your gym, parents from your kid's school, the teachers who teach your kids, and so many more, all of these people! Especially when you live in a place like South Florida where we see such population, our neighbors are everywhere. This can be exhaustive, but our command, our compulsion should be to show them and give them great love. Jesus is asking us to let our love be seen and experienced because in that love, there's the fingerprints of God because God is love. We pray and we often wonder, how do we share who we are with the world? As Christians, there's always an evangelistic push and a commission to share the gospel. But what if we started with letting people experience us? Because when we do that, and we reflect God’s love, then others are encountering Him through the love we carry. Love that turns in The great commandment says to love your neighbor as you love yourself. And you’ve likely heard messages before about this scripture highlighting that we learn to love ourselves before we love other people – and it's true. I'm in a new position as the president of 4KIDS, and I've encountered the busyness and demands of having missional work at this new level. But no matter what you do, I believe everyone who is called to their job is in missional work, whether that’s caring for vulnerable kids and families or being a CPA. There's a sense of God-given mission to your work and you can get lost in it. What I'm realizing, in this season of life, there is a requirement for me to understand what's going on in my own soul. There's a requirement for me to love myself, to be acquainted with what's going on inside me, so I can show love to other people. We are commanded to understand how to love ourselves and that comes by taking time with the Lord and yourself. Asking, “God, what's going on in my soul, my mind and my heart?” As I prioritize those things, then the priority of loving others follows. A foundation of love And finally, the great commandment ends saying, “All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Isn’t it interesting that upon these commandments hang all the law and prophets? There were so many prophets and so many laws and it all comes down to this command of love. When we see that word “hang” it makes me think of what Jesus summed up on the cross, that vertical beam, pointing up, to loving God and that horizontal beam, with arms stretched wide, to loving other people. As I reflect on this month of February, as I reflect on loving my wife and loving my children, as I reflect on my oldest daughter’s birthday and giving her the love she deserves – I’m really reflecting on this great commandment, right? This month gives me and you the chance to remember to orient to love so people see the source of the love we have to share. I don't feel pressured. I don't feel like someone is forcing me to show up – this is so far from a subpoena. I feel a healthy compulsion through His command to love and I hope you do too. Commanded to LOVE! - Andrew Holmes - 4KIDS President
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