Loving God and Neighbor

BCLP Talk 5.3.2

By: Stephen D. Arriba
10/08/2022

I. Greetings
Good evening to all our BCLP 23 Participants. I am glad to see you tonight.
I hope you had a great day today and still have energy to listen to the
second talk of tonight’s session.
I am Stephen D. Arriba, a graduate of BCLP 16. I have been with BCBP
since August 2015. I am currently serving as the Unit Leader of Unit A -
BCBP Mandaue Chapter. I am married to Gerlie Arriba and we are blessed
with two beautiful children who are now eight years old and 4 months old. I
am connected with the Department of Education – Mandaue City Division
as an Alternative Learning System Teacher or ALS Teacher, handling out-
of-school youth and out-of-school adults, or shall I say, the last, the least
and the lost.(listen to the emcee, avoid repetition)
II. Introduction
A while ago, you have just witnessed the talk of Kuya Arlone Limbagan
which talked about The Introduction to Charismatic Prayer. My talk for
tonight will focus on the topic Loving God and Neighbor.
We are now on the second module of our course, and to better understand
this, let us review the things that we have learned in Module 1.
In Module I, we focused on the following:
1. Who Jesus is and the part He played in man’s salvific history;
2. How God revealed Himself to man and the love He bears for him;
3. The power of the Holy Spirit; how He dwells in and transforms man,
and
4. God’s call for us to repent and believe in the gospel.
In Module II, these are the things that we will focus on:
1. How we can live successfully as Christians in the modern world; and
2. How we can live out God’s plan to experience his power and grace.
Simply, the topics in Module 1 are the pre-requisites in order for us to better
understand what Module 2 is all about.
III. DISCUSSION PROPER
My talk is divided into two parts: the first one is Loving God, the second is
Loving our Neighbor. First, let me share with you about Loving God.
THE IDEAL OF EVERY CHRISTIAN MUST BE LOVING GOD, which
means that everything that we do must be anchored on Loving God.
To express our love for God, we do it in many, different ways: by psyching
up pious feelings, through humanistic or philanthropic endeavors; and
through acts of piety. For me, these are not wrong concepts, but neither are
they sufficient expression of loving God. It’s more than these above-
mentioned acts.
Loving God as an Ideal. Our goals direct our human behavior and plans
for life. These goals become our ideal of life, influencing and directing our
lives. We spend our lives to pursuing such good goals, but if our ideal is not
focused on loving God, then this falls short of the ideal. Again, if our ideal is
not focused on loving God, then this falls short of the ideal.
To simplify that, let us have the following examples.
An individual helps his neighbor who lost his house due to fire because his
ideal is to become famous and known to all that he is generous, rich, (kay
gusto niya makahibaw ang tanan nga daghan siyag kwarta) and also, he
wants to be known as someone who is powerful, and not because he loves
his neighbor as what God has commanded, then he falls short of the ideal.
Another example, a celebrity brings help in the form of relief goods to the
typhoon victims, and later uses this situation in his plan for running for
office. Then he falls short of the ideal.
One more example. We take care of our body because we want to look
good always in the eyes of other people, then we fall short of the ideal.
There is nothing wrong with taking care of our body, but we do it because
we believe that our body is the temple of His Spirit. We take care of it so
that we are healthy in serving the Lord.
Did you get the idea?
Loving God should be our highest priority. It should not be anywhere in
the list, but the Highest Priority. When questioned by a scribe as to which
was the first of all commandments, Jesus replied: “This is the first: Hear,
O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone! Therefore, you shall love the
Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your
mind, and with all your strength.”
To understand better this phrase, let us dissect each part.
First question, What does it mean to love God with all our heart?
To answer this, we have to understand what Jesus meant by heart.
Our modern day understanding of heart is that it has something to do with
feelings or emotions. Biblical understanding of heart is different. Heart is
understood as the seat of intelligence and decision. The biblical
understanding of heart makes more sense when we try to understand what
Jesus meant by loving God with all our heart. The kind of love God requires
from us does not depend on feelings because they are rather unstable,
unsettled, changeable. Instead, it is based on a commitment, more of a
decision, to love God.
To love God with our heart is to be committed to him. It is a commitment to
seek the Lord first and foremost. We always hear the saying, “Put God first
in everything that we do.” And that is a powerful statement because above
all else, God should be the first, to place His will and interest above our
own, no matter what.
Matthew 6:33 says and I quote: "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and
his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you."
So here’s the question, how do we put the Lord first in our life? This
requires a basic decision to put him first, a decision to obey him, a desire to
develop a personal relationship with Him, and this relationship should be
something that’s dynamic and alive, not just a relationship that comes only
when you need comfort. Loving God is a personal experience arising from
our relationship with him as sons and daughters. In this relationship, we
spend time with Him by being regular in our prayer time and scripture
reading. It may take some time, I know, because no success happens
overnight. Yet, if we are committed to our decision, things will happen as
they should be.
Let us now answer the second question: What does it mean to love God
with all our mind?
Love in the gospel denotes committed service. It is something we do rather
than something we feel.
Jesus taught his disciples to wash one another’s feet. He said, “No greater
love has he than to lay down his life for his friends.” Loving God with our
minds means serving God with the use of our mind or simply making
available our minds for God’s purposes. Using our minds has incredible
consequences for society. It can become an instrument for destruction, for
example, Hitler; or, it can be applied to consequences to world progress,
for example, science inventions.
So, How do we love and serve God with our mind?
Keep your mind clean and holy, free from all evil thoughts, free of
uncharitable thoughts, away from suspicion that can lead to estranged
relationships, away from speculative thoughts that can lead to sin. Simply,
all the things that we put in our mind are good things.
Also, we use our mind according to God’s truths and not according to the
ways of the world. The way we think and conduct ourselves in all the things
that we do must reflect the fact that we are not just living for the temporal
world but for the everlasting kingdom of God. Our thoughts, words, deeds,
our decisions, and choices must be guided by every Word of God, and faith
in His promises.
We must pre-occupy our minds with the things of God. How we can please
Him, and not how we can glory in the praises of men.
We must protect and preserve our minds from unholy influences so that
God can use us for His purpose. We must be very discerning in the use of
television and other media. We must fill our minds with the thoughts of God
and use it actively for God’s purpose in our business, family, peer groups,
in serving Him in BCBP.
We have talked so many things already. I hope you are still with me.
Our third question is: what does it mean to love God with all our
strength?
Loving God with all our strength means giving him all our resources – time,
money, energy, possession, gifts, abilities. Let us not set limits in our
giving.
Here are some concrete ways we can love God with our resources:
1. Money
 We must have proper attitude towards money. God is
interested in our money, not because He needs money but to
see the condition of our heart. Remember, we are stewards, not
owners. As stewards, it is our responsibility to manage and use
well the resources given to us. How? Through tithing and
almsgiving, and this will be discussed lengthily in another
session.
2. Time
 We must have an attitude towards time. We don’t own it, we
manage it. And the Lord wants us to be generous with our time.
How can we do it? By seeking God’s direction as to how we are
to spend our time. Now, examine what you do during your free
time. Do you spend it scrolling through Facebook, watching
videos on Tiktok, or vlogs in Youtube, or playing your favorite
video game, and less time with our Lord? If yes, then there
must be something wrong. Let us remember “Less of Me, More
of God.” Let that sink in. “Less of Me, More of God.”
Just like tonight, you have given your time for the Lord, to listen
to another session and hear more about Him and know how
you can serve Him; by volunteering to do Christian service.
Jesus: Our Model in Loving God
Jesus is dedicated to accomplishing his mission, obedient unto death and
constantly seeking the Father’s will.
What is now the challenge in Loving God?
Loving God is not as vague and impractical as you may think. It involves
specific, practical actions and decisions and commitments. Now the
question is: can you make the love of God your first and highest ideal? Are
you ready to make Christ the model of your life?
Deuteronomy 7:9 says and I quote: “Know therefore that the Lord your God
is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those
who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations.”
Nasabtan ra ba ninyo ates and kuyas? If yes…..
Pause for 5 seconds
Let us now proceed to the second part of my talk tonight and that is
LOVING OUR NEIGHBOR.
Who is our neighbor? Is it as easy as ABC to love them? (pause 3
seconds)
The essence of Christianity is union with God, made possible through the
death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. What makes one a Christian is a
loving personal relationship with God. Our whole life becomes an
expression of this relationship. We love God that’s why we follow his
commandment, to love one another. Our love for neighbor comes from our
love for God. We love our neighbor because that is what God has
commanded. Does that make sense?
In John, 13:34-35 says, and I quote, “A new commandment I give to you,
that you also love one another. By this all men will know you are my
disciples, if you have love for one another.”
What is Christianity?
Christianity is about God’s love and ours. It’s a love initiated by God. We
enter the same relationship Jesus has with his Father. It’s about us falling
in love with the Lord. Our identity is changed, and we become sons and
daughters of God. We share in the eternal life of God. As children of God,
we are commanded to love our neighbor. We are commanded to love our
brothers & sisters in Christ.
What does God mean by love?
Jesus spoke of love that is connected with keeping God’s commandments.
The world’s experience shows that love apart from God has become
polluted with sin. Jesus was specific about how we are to love one another.
We are not free to change or dilute Jesus’ commandment of love: “Love
one another as I have loved you.”
Jesus meant a self-sacrificial love. “to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”
In John 15:13
Is it possible to choose the people we will love? Who is my neighbor? Who
is your neighbor? Jesus answered: All men in need of your help are your
neighbors. Not just our family, the house beside ours (atong silingan), nor
our brothers and sisters in BCBP (our kuyas and ates). All men in need of
our help are our neighbors. We must serve them. Love them. Help them.
How do we love them? In the same manner that Jesus loves us.
Throughout his earthly life, Jesus taught us how to deal with one another.
The golden rule clearly spells this out, “Do unto others what you would
want them to do unto you.”
In Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, he clearly points out what love of
neighbor is all about: patient and kind (mapailubon), not jealous (dili
seloso), not boastful or proud (dili magarbohon), not rude (dili bastos), not
self-seeking (dili mapahitas-on), not prone to anger (dili dali masuko), does
not brood over injuries (dili magbinayloay sa mga kadaot), does not rejoice
what is wrong (dili magmaya sa sayop), a love that rejoices with the truth
(gugma nga magsaulog sa kamatuoran) , forbearance
(pagkamainantuson), trusts (gugma nga adunay pagsalig), hopes (gugma
nga adunay paglaom) and perseveres (gugma nga molahutay hangtud sa
hangtud).
Christian love is committed service. Examine your basic Christian
responsibilities in life. If you were to be tested, how would you fare out in
your responsibilities the following areas: as husband or wife? as a parent to
your children? to your work or profession? to your parish or community?
Here are practical implications of being a Christian.
Trusting in God’s love.
If God is our Father, trust Him. He has plan for us. We cannot expect
anything better. One of my favorite verses in the bible says and I quote
“'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to
prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.”
In Luke 12:22-31, it says, and I quote “Our Father knows our needs. He will
provide for us and expect more where it came from.”
Galatians 4:6-7 says that “We are sons and daughters of God and brothers
and sisters to Jesus Christ.”
Having the same Father makes us brothers and sisters to Christ.
This is now our challenge in loving our neighbor. Jesus showed us the way
to true Christian love by dying on the cross. He also taught a new way of
life – what it really means to live as a Christian. Did Jesus die in vain? Or
do we, who call ourselves Christians, take up the challenge hurled by
Jesus to follow in His footsteps? What is your response?
Pause for 5 seconds
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all remember the greatest
commandment, what God has taught us from the very beginning “Love God
with all your heart, with all your mind and with all your strength, and love
your neighbor as you love yourself.”
Thank you for listening. To God be the glory.

NOTES:
1. LESSEN THE USE OF VERSES
2. SHARE PERSONAL EXPERIENCES ON HOW YOU LOVE GOD AND
YOUR NEIGHBOR
3. LISTEN TO EMCEE FOR THE INTRODUCTION… AVOID REPETITION