May's Love Your Neighbor

What do you value?

Do you value time with your family? Perhaps you value a promotion at work? Do you value having a clean car or a manicured lawn? Do you value a good steak or a cheesecake made to perfection? Maybe you value some time to yourself or a chance to watch a basketball playoff game uninterrupted.

One of the things I value is a good CD. I love good music. One of my favorite things to do is to buy a new album and sit back on the couch and listen to the entire CD while I read the lyrics for each song. I know, I’m a little bit of a freak when it comes to music, but an afternoon spent like that is worth more than gold to me.

Have you ever wondered what God values? Because He is God right? He can get whatever He wants. He is the one who spoke all of creation into existence. So what is it that He would say He really values?

Jesus tells us what God values in Luke 15. In this incredible chapter of the Bible Jesus is shown hanging out with “sinners and tax collectors.” The on-looking Pharisees can’t believe it. They begin to mutter in disrespect. So Jesus addresses them by telling three stories all with the purpose of explaining why He welcomes and eats with sinners.

In each story Jesus makes a very clear point: God values people. He tells all three stories, the story of the lost sheep, the story of the lost coin and the story of the prodigal son to show why He welcomes and eats with “sinners.” Simply put, Jesus welcomed sinners because God values people.

Since God values people Jesus valued people. Since God values people we too, as Christ-followers, should value people. Sadly though, more often than not we value our own comfort more than we value people. That is why Jesus commanded us to “love our neighbors.” He knew we needed a little instruction to get us to love people like He loved them.

On May 25th we have an incredible opportunity to show that we too value people.
Sunday the 25th is StillPoint’s CD release party at the Nutty Brown. This party is
going to be great with awesome food, great atmosphere and incredible music. It is also going to be great because it is the perfect opportunity for you to show that you value your neighbors. All you have to do is simply invite them to come to the Nutty Brown with you. You can love your neighbors by inviting them to come to some thing you know they will enjoy.

On top of that, if you buy the new StillPoint CD in advance you will get a ticket to the show that you can give to a neighbor. You can tell them that you really want them to come and you already have a ticket for them. After they say they would love to go you can go into your house and put in your new StillPoint CD in your CD player, kick back on your couch and listen to incredible music, read the album liner and know that you just loved your neighbor well. And that will be a moment you and God can both really value.