Top 10 Superbowl Excuses…

In the spirit of Top Ten Tuesday, I thought I would offer the following from David Letterman regarding the Top Ten Excuses Offered by the New England Patriots for losing the Superbowl.

10.       “What?  We thought it was the best of seven!”

09.       Too much pre-game chowder

08.       Since when is that dude allowed to catch a ball with his head?

07.       We were terrified by that Fox football robot.

06.       Everything was fine until Dr. Phil decided to straighten us out.

05.       We should have campaigned harder in Florida.

04.       Entire team stayed up all night watching the Hannah Montana movie.

03.       Were exhausted after spending hours consoling a weepy Terrell Owens.

02.       Thought game was supposed to be played on super Tuesday.

and the number one excuse offered by the Patriots for losing the superbowl:

01.       The airline lost our roids.

Can you think of any others?

Free in Christ — Chapter 4

Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together.   One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 

Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law?   Jesus replied:  Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.   This is the first and greatest commandment.   And the second is like it:  Love your neighbor as yourself.   All the law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.  (Matt 22:34-40, emphasis mine)

Hook begins chapter four of his book, Free in Christ, by asking why is love the great commandment and provides us with four reasons such is the case.

First, he suggests that love is the only effective motivation for our actions.   He adds, although love is commanded, it can hardly be instilled by command.   For love to be instilled, it must come in response to love rather than lawful demands.   Cecil refers to the apostle John and reminded us that John did not say, We love because he first commanded us, but rather, We love because he first loved us (1 John 4:19).

Second, he suggests that love fulfills the intent of all other laws.   If you remember, Cecil has already declared that the tendency of man is to emphasize the lawful demand and to minimize or fail to discern the principle behind the law.   Now, in this section, he reminds us that our worship and service are expressions of love, stating that one should not attend, pray, sing, give, etc. because he is commanded to do so but rather he should do these as an expression of loving relationship. 

Third, he suggests that love lifts us above efforts of legal justification.   According to Cecil, a legal code specifies, defines and enumerates and when one meets the specifications of this code he is legally righteous and free from further demands of the law.   I know that this concept doesn’t sit well with many who have read his material, as the phrase legal justification upsets those whose view of grace is one whereby the recipient earns grace by maintaining strict adherence to a bullet-point list of rules and regulations.   Yet, if such were the case then salvation would not be by grace through faith it would be merited by obedience to law, a legal code.   We need to consider our motives for our obedience and ask whether or not they are motivated by love.

Fourth, he suggests that love transcends any sense of duty.   He states that a hired hand performs duties.  The employer specifies duties to be performed, when the employee does the specified things, he has fulfilled his duty and earned his pay.   Nothing more can be demanded of his time or effort.   And he can do all this with no love for the employer.  Do we truly believe this is the type of relationship our Father seeks with his people?   Obviously not!

In closing the chapter, Hook states, After amplifying these four reasons why love is the great commandment, it is easy to understand why Jesus would choose love to be the identifying characteristic of his disciples.

What are your thoughts about love being the greatest commandment?