{"id":4717,"date":"2017-10-23T16:11:22","date_gmt":"2017-10-23T21:11:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thedisciplemaker.org\/?p=4717"},"modified":"2017-10-23T16:11:22","modified_gmt":"2017-10-23T21:11:22","slug":"how-to-live-and-love-in-3-directions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2017\/10\/how-to-live-and-love-in-3-directions\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Love and Live in 3 Directions"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The scene starts in Mark 12 when a first-century lawyer asks Jesus a question. \u201cOf all the commandments, which is the most important?\u201d The question seems to be motivated by a pretty good instinct. (Just because he\u2019s a lawyer doesn\u2019t make him the bad guy in the story!) He notices that Jesus is giving some great answers to all the trick questions that the religious leaders are peppering him with.
\nSo he goes for the CliffsNotes! Remember those? You\u2019d have a test coming up about, say, Moby Dick, except you were only on page fourteen of the book and the test was the next day. So you\u2019d grab one of those black-and-yellow lifesavers, and an hour later you\u2019d be set![1]<\/a> That\u2019s similar to what the lawyer is doing. He must be thinking to himself, This teacher knows all the answers. Let\u2019s take a short cut through all the extra stuff to see if he can answer the question that actually matters!
\nIt\u2019s our question too. How are we meant to live? With all the distractions and different ways of living, what\u2019s the main thing .\u00a0.\u00a0. and then how do we actually live it out?
\nUpward, Inward, Outward
\nJesus\u2019 answer is deceptively simple: \u201cLove the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength .\u00a0.\u00a0. [And] love your neighbor as yourself\u201d (verses 30\u201331).
\nHeart, soul, mind, and strength.
\nThese make up your control center, your emotions and will, your intellect, and your bodily abilities\u2014pretty much all of you!<\/p>\n

During the time when Jesus was ministering, faithful Jews would have recited part of the greatest commandment every day. Some of them would even have carried it around on index cards in their pockets or had it displayed on the lock screens of their phones.[2]<\/a> It was a big deal .\u00a0.\u00a0. but Jesus did something even bigger with it.
\nSee, there\u2019s a movement to what Jesus talks about here, and the movement defines our lives.<\/p>\n

Upward, inward, outward.<\/h4>\n

That\u2019s the movement described in the greatest commandment. Loving God takes us up, learning how to love ourselves takes us in, and then we go out and love our neighbors.
\nAnd what\u2019s fascinating about Jesus\u2019 answer is that we already live upward, inward, and outward. We can\u2019t help it. All of us relate to God in a certain way, all of us treat ourselves a certain way, and all of us treat others a certain way.
\nJesus isn\u2019t telling us to do something no human has ever done. He\u2019s not saying, \u201cFly like a bird!\u201d or \u201cRun at the speed of light!\u201d or \u201cLive life from old age to infancy!\u201d Rather, he\u2019s saying we need to make sure that what we\u2019re already doing, naturally, is properly oriented.
\nAnd why do we naturally live upward, inward, and outward? Because we were created to! But what if I told you that the needs you feel on a moment-by-moment basis are designed to draw you into a new way of living?<\/strong>
\nLet that land for a moment.
\nThe needs you experience are invitations.
\nLet me explain. All of us are created with deep, profound needs, so naturally we seek to satisfy those needs. But unfortunately, we often seek to satisfy those needs in ways that are not only unsatisfying but also sometimes downright harmful.
\nWe often mistake distraction for satisfaction! But a need deferred or ignored is not the same as a need fulfilled. That\u2019s why Jesus invites us into God-designed ways of living that will meet our needs as nothing else ever can.
\nBut it\u2019s up to us to respond to this invitation to join him on the journey.
\nAnd don\u2019t miss the fact that God\u2019s way of living is also the way of loving. We don\u2019t just live in three directions\u2014Jesus invites us to love in three directions.
\nYour deepest, most fundamental needs are invitations to love upward, inward, and outward.
\nAnd to properly respond to that invitation, we must be intentional about God and how we satisfy our needs. Instead of drifting through life or merely reacting to whatever happens to come our way, we need to figure out what\u2019s best .\u00a0.\u00a0. and then do that!
\nJesus understands that we need to know what life is about.<\/strong> All of it, and not just a single season, because our seasonal answers are insufficient.
\nWhen we\u2019re teenagers, for example, we think life is all about the superlatives. We hope life grants us an identity such as smartest, coolest, funniest, hottest, fastest. That\u2019s how it was for me, anyway, at Cedar Ridge High. When the yearbook came out, the first section we\u2019d flip to was the class awards. And in 1994 I was finally immortalized with my own superlative: Most Unique.
\nFor a former baseball jock who was too cool (and stoned) to play senior year, this was the pinnacle. Sure, student representative to the district school board was nice. Homecoming king was sweet. Student council president didn\u2019t get me a lot of dates, but it would look good on my college applications.
\nBut doing all those things in plaid pants and dreadlocks? Most. Unique. Ever.
\nWhat I didn\u2019t understand at the time was that I wasn\u2019t the most unique .\u00a0.\u00a0. and neither was anyone else!
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\nAll of us at Cedar Ridge High were just kids trying to find our place in the world. However we tried to construct that, we were still searching for meaning and purpose. We wanted to understand the art of living, but our methods were about as helpful as trying to empty a swimming pool with a coffee cup.
\nToo often we humans are satisfied with small definitions. Over the years I\u2019ve inhabited many different roles: athlete, prep, stoner, musician, wanderer, pastor. None of those roles is the answer to life for me. The answer, in all those roles, is to practice the art of living.
\nTo embody the greatest commandment and satisfy my God-given needs by living upward, inward, and outward.
\nWhich takes us right back into the scripture we\u2019re looking at. Reread the second half. The scribe considers Jesus\u2019 answer, and he\u2019s like, \u201cYou\u2019re right, teacher. I agree! What you\u2019ve said is the most important thing in the world!\u201d
\nAnd then what Jesus doesn\u2019t say is, \u201cYou agree? Great, it\u2019s a done deal.\u201d
\nInstead he thinks about the scribe\u2019s wise answer and then says, \u201cYou are not far from the kingdom of God\u201d (verse 34).
\nIn other words, outside the Kingdom of God. Not yet living there, as an insider.
\nBut here\u2019s the astounding part: Jesus\u2019 words are an invitation, not a condemnation. Jesus is saying, \u201cCome closer. Don\u2019t be far away. Let me work in your life. You\u2019re almost home.\u201d<\/p>\n

Taking the Next Step<\/h4>\n

So how do we bridge the distance between \u201cnot far\u201d and \u201cclose to\u201d Jesus?
\nBy living in sync with the way we\u2019ve been created.
\nGod designed us completely, so he knows what it means to truly and fully live. That kind of living requires us to have a close connection to our Creator, which is the exact reason God has placed such deep needs within each of us. Without that connection, we\u2019ll still find ourselves living upward, inward, and outward\u2014except in all the wrong ways.
\nThat\u2019s why Jesus is so insistent we draw near. That we come closer. If we recognize how we\u2019re created, then our upward, inward, outward lives will work how they\u2019re designed to.<\/strong> We\u2019ll be living in step with the God who loves us deeply. God also understands the best ways for us to love him and others.
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\nBeing that close to Jesus is when life becomes not only rich and real but also transformational.
\nDo not miss how critical that upward movement is. Loving upward drives us to life as God intended. If we are far from the Lord, then we will always love ourselves wrong, which will always lead us to love others wrong as well. If we are not loving upward, nothing else works.
\nThat\u2019s why we\u2019ve got to live it! We\u2019re not after the \u201cart of thinking about God a little differently.\u201d This is the art of living.
\nI love to call that art of living \u201cJesus spirituality\u201d\u2014which is ordinary people, like us, living in the deeply transformational way of Jesus.
\nSee, information isn\u2019t enough. Not even the right information can save us by itself. We have to act on that information. This is the definition of wisdom, by the way\u2014acting the right way because we have the right information.
\nThat\u2019s why you\u2019re reading this book: because you want to integrate what you learn with how you live.<\/strong>
\nGod gives us the key in the greatest commandment, but we\u2019ve got to do this stuff in the right order. Imagine I invite you to my sweet cabin by the lake.[3]<\/a> To start hanging out in that cabin, you need to get the key from me, pack your car, follow the GPS to the lake, and so on. There\u2019s a natural order to it.
\nIt\u2019s the same with the greatest commandment.
\nWe begin upward, with loving God. The God. God of the Old Testament, God of the New Testament. God the Trinity\u2014Father, Son, Spirit. We continue inward, with understanding our true identities in Jesus. And when we get those things right, God\u2019s Spirit sends us outward, on mission into a hurting and wonderful world.
\nThree movements that mirror the greatest commandment.
\nMovement One: Upward<\/strong>
\nThis will focus on God the Father through the lens of our need for meaning, connection, intimacy, and reflection.
\nMovement Two: Inward<\/strong>
\nThis will focus on Jesus through the lens of our need for honesty, self-control, intentionality, and humility.
\nMovement Three: Outward<\/strong>
\nThis will focus on God\u2019s Spirit through the lens of our need for justice, self-expression, relationship, and compassion.
\nDiscovering the art of living is a journey into the longings we were created with\u2014and how God designed those longings to be met.
\nBut we don\u2019t travel alone. We walk alongside the God who made us and our needs, stepping forward in thought and action, belief and works. Life is hard. It can be tough and unrelenting and catch us by surprise. And since we get only one shot at it, let\u2019s follow Jesus. Let\u2019s do it right. Let\u2019s live Jesus spirituality.
\nLet me ask you: What would your life look like if you started to love God with every part of who you are? If you based your identity on the truth of Jesus? If God\u2019s Spirit gave you the power to go out into the world, in God\u2019s name, and transform it?
\nIf you can honestly read those questions and go, \u201cMeh, who cares?\u201d then you should probably give this book to someone else. You could also use it as kindling the next time you go camping or as a paperweight, or you could leave it outside for the birds to make nests with.
\nBut if those questions stirred something in you, then let\u2019s take this journey together. Listen to what Jesus says in John 10:10: \u201cI have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.\u201d
\nThat\u2019s a serious statement. He\u2019s saying his life\u2014birth, ministry, death, resurrection\u2014exists for us. That\u2019s insane.
\nAnd insanely hopeful. The greatest commandment leads us to a life that is full, satisfying, and joyful beyond anything we can imagine.
\nBut we only get that life by living it. Day in and day out, at street level.
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Click the book to read a free excerpt.<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\nAnd remember, the clue about how to really live all of this is right there in the first word of Jesus\u2019 answer to the scribe: love. If we\u2019re supposed to love God and love ourselves and love our neighbors, then that\u2019s got to be something we live out and act out. Like, no parent would say, \u201cI can tell I love my daughter because I believe certain things about her.\u201d That\u2019s not how love works. First John 3:18 says, \u201cLet us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.\u201d Loving a kid means cleaning up vomit and holding your tongue when they\u2019re fourteen and think you\u2019re the enemy. It means combing hair and teaching Bible verses and driving to practice and doing laundry and the million other things we parents do out of love.
\nJesus\u2019 invitation is getting at exactly that.
\nLove God, love ourselves, love others .\u00a0.\u00a0. with actions and in truth.
\nJesus is promising us a life that is filled to overflowing with good things: joy, community, creativity, love, justice .\u00a0.\u00a0. pretty much the greatest hits of being alive. He says these things will permeate our lives and spill over into the world.
\nThis is the life offered to those willing to simply respond to Jesus by taking the next step.<\/p>\n
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You’ve been reading Daniel Fusco’s Upward, Inward, Outward: Love God, Love Yourself, Love Others.<\/em> Daniel is an expert on illustrating how Jesus is at street level with you and me. In this book he unpacks how the greatest commandment Jesus gave us is to be lived out today. We only have one life, so we need to live the most meaningful life possible!<\/p>\n