August 7, 2018

Loving People – Flaws and All

August 7, 2018

DAILY READING

Genesis 1:26-31
Psalm 8
This weekend’s reading: Genesis 1:26-31

FIELD NOTES

Through forty-nine years of officiating weddings, one thing that usually happens is the father of the bride saying, “Isn’t she the most beautiful bride ever!”  How we value another person goes a long way in how beautiful the other appears to us. 
 
A physically-challenged man walked into the student center of a college with a Miss America-stylish lady holding his arm.  Obviously, they were in love.   Being hard not to notice these two, students began asking, “What in the world does she see in him?”  Eventually, they noticed she was physically blind.  Yet she treated him as if he was the most special person in the world.  The students saw his physical appearance.  She saw his heart.
 
In Psalm 8 David tells us how great God values us.  I Samuel 16:7 tells us that God does not look upon the outward appearance but upon the heart. 
 
Most want to be more beautiful and handsome, especially as we age.  My wife is even more beautiful now after forty-five years of marriage than when she was at age twenty.
 
Far more than we love our spouses and children, flaws and all, God values and loves us, flaws and all.  Jesus proved it.  He died for us, flaws and all.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FIELD

  • Who are some of the people you value most?
  • What is it about these people you value?
  • Who are some people you do not value very highly?
  • If you valued them the way God values them, what might change about you as to how you look at them?

FAMILY FIELD TALK

  • Talk about the importance of “looking our best.”
  • In our families, describe in what ways, while “seeing the worst in each other,” we still love each other and see the best in each other?
  • How might we love and value each other the way Jesus loves and values us?

PRAYER

Most loving gracious Lord, creator and source of all life, you made us a little lower than angels and yet you love and value us more than anything else in all creation.  While the world looks upon us and evaluates our appearances, you value our heart.  Because you love us so much, you died for us.  Help us value and love the people with whom we come into contact today the way you love them.  In your gracious name, I pray.  Amen.