Love What is Good

Three times in the Bible it teaches us, reminds us, encourages us to...
LOVE WHAT IS GOOD.
Amos 5:15; Romans 12:9; and Titus 1:8

It is a good reminder for us today:  Love what is good.  Opposite inference:  Don't love what is not good.  Concentrate on the good.  Look for the good.  Appreciate the good.  

Participate with Faith, Hope, and Love

"It is a gift of participation in the very life of God.  Its inherent character is best described by three overlapping characteristics:  faith, hope and love.  We rightly called them the supernatural virtues because they were a "participation in the very life of God" as opposed to a natural talent."  (p. 117, Richard Rohr, Jesus' Plan for a New World)

Somethings are natural, somethings are not.
Supernatural is not natural.  It's about nature.  It's from God.
When I read Rohr's words, "participation in the very life of God," I was struck by the awesomeness of that.  We can participate with God when we participate with faith, hope, and love.  Why don't we participate with it more?  

Broaden your Borders to Love

"Jesus says a forgiven person will know how to love."
 (p. 92, Richard Rohr, Jesus' Plan for a New World)

That's Biblical.  Is it real in your life?  The more you can forgive, the greater your capacity to love.
And, who doesn't need capacity to love when it's hard, when there is a reason not to, when you don't feel you have in it.  You don't!  But, God can.  Rely on Him to forgive through your submission to His will and way.  Forgiving creates greater love.  Forgiving looks beyond.  It looks to God.

Once you've been forgiven, you will want others to know and experience the same.
There's nothing more humbling, and no greater reason to be grateful, than forgiveness.

2 different worlds

Franciscan Monk, Richard Rohr, writes in his book about the Sermon on the Mount:

"Remember this:  There are always two worlds.   The world as it operates is power; the world as it should be is love.  The secret of Kingdom life is how can you live in both - simultaneously.The world as it is will always be built on power, ego, and success.  Yet we also must keep our eyes intently on the world as it should be - what Jesus calls the Reign of God.  Power apart from love leads to brutality; but love that does not engage with power is mere sentimentality.  A lot of Christians today are still trapped in one or the other."  (page 41)

Vast Love

Psalm 36:5

    Your unfailing love, OLord, is as vast as the heavens;
             your faithfulness reaches beyond the clouds.