11

Be Loved, Then Love

    1. Max opens this chapter with a story about Andrea Mosconi. What was Mosconi tasked with? How are we tasked in a similar way?

    2. Who is someone who brings out the best in you, and how do they do that?

    3. Perhaps the greatest command Jesus ever gave is recorded in John 13:34 when he said, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you.” This command is repeated later in the New Testament. Consider the following passages along with John 13:34:

        Romans 13:8: “Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law.”

        1 John 4:11: “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”

        •  What do these verses say about how and why we are to love one another?

        •  In your own words describe what it means and what it looks like to love another person.

        •  The Greek word translated as love in all three of these verses is agape. What does agape mean?

        •  How does this word help define what Jesus meant when he said we ought to love one another?

    4. Max poses an important question in this chapter on page 153:

“Have you let God love you?”

        •  What is your answer to that question?

        •  If it’s yes, how do you feel God’s love?

        •  If it’s no, explain your answer.

        •  If you’re uncertain, describe what you’re uncertain about.

    5. We can’t fully love others until we accept the love of Christ. When we experience the love of the Savior, we can love others.

        •  Has accepting God’s love helped you love other people? If so, how?

        •  Have you ever tried to love someone when you didn’t feel loved? What was that experience like?

    6. Read the following verses: Deuteronomy 7:7–9; Romans 5:8; Ephesians 2:8–10.

        •  According to these passages why does God love us?

        •  Why did Jesus die for us?

        •  Do you believe God loves you simply because he chose you? Or do you find yourself working to earn the approval and favor of other people and God?

        •  Can you think of a person you know who lives as if he or she is loved by God? What indicates that this person feels loved?

    7. Think of a person or a group of people who are difficult for you to love.

        •  How could God’s love for you help you love this person or group of people?

        •  How would loving this person or group of people cause happiness to happen in you?

    8. In his book Life of the Beloved, Henri Nouwen writes about how difficult it is for us to believe we are loved by God. In order to help us with this, Nouwen suggests making a practice of sitting in silence and listening for the voice of God.

“It is not easy to enter into the silence and reach beyond the many boisterous and demanding voices of our world,” Nouwen writes. But if you do, he says, you will not encounter a berating voice that is punishing you or displeased with you. Instead, you will “discover there the small intimate voice saying: ‘You are my Beloved Child, on you my favor rests’ . . . if we dare to embrace our solitude and befriend our silence, we will come to know that voice.”⁴

        •  What do you think God would tell you if you spent time being silent in his presence?

        •  Is this an uncomfortable thought for you? Why or why not?

        •  Could you trust what Nouwen says here and believe that God would call you his Beloved Child?

        •  Spend some time in silence today and listen for the voice of God, who is simply saying, “I love you.”