Feb. 2006 Balancing Tips: Learn to Love Yourself As Your Neighbor
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Balancing Tips: Helping You Balance Your Life According to God's Plan
February 2007 Newsletter From Cross Your Heart Publications
~Crossing your life with God's plan~
In this issue:
- Learn to Love Yourself As Your Neighbor
- Related Scripture
- Links and Resources
- Seeking Independent Reviewers
- Unique Easter Cards
- Current and Upcoming Releases
- Contact Information, Copyright Notice, Disclaimers, and Unsubscribe Instructions
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Learn to Love Yourself As Your Neighbor
What is love? Love takes many forms, and it can be expressed in many different ways. Parental love. Romantic love. Friendship. Sometimes it’s hard to balance all of these different types of love, all of these different relationships. Why do you think marital advice books stress setting up a “date night” with your spouse to “rekindle the flame”? The flame goes out because of all the conflicting directions in which you are pulled in life.
Other advice books point out that “self” is often the one who suffers. At some point in all the stresses of life, we seem to have been told (or somehow come to the conclusion ourselves out of guilt) that we need to put the happiness and well-being of others before our own.
While we do need to put others first, respect them, and care about the feelings of others, this virtue can be taken to extremes. Matthew 19:19 and Luke 10:27 do not advise you to love your neighbor “over” yourself but, rather, to love your neighbor “as” yourself.
If you don’t love yourself first, how do you then love others in the same way as yourself? How do you do unto others when nothing is ever done for you? If you do not take care of yourself, how are you supposed to have the empathy or energy to be there for anyone else?
Love IS self-sacrificing at times, but not always. If we never give to ourselves, we never have anything to sacrifice in the first place – so we can’t even demonstrate sacrificial love.
Christ sacrificed everything for us (and He certainly had everything to sacrifice!). Still, while He lived as a human, He made sure to take time for Himself -- time to pray and recharge. Would the human part of Him have had so much to give if He had not taken the time to rest in between times of ministry?
Jesus showed us how to perfectly balance love, and He expressed the most pure, ultimate example of love.
~For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)~
God loves more people than any of us can claim or imagine. He loves all of us – every person, man, woman, child – ever born or even unborn. Even if we don’t believe in Him, He still loves us (and His heart breaks for those who will not spend eternity with Him).
Pretty amazing, isn’t it? God is the most loving Father there ever could be, and we are the luckiest children, to be loved with such unconditional, never-ending, pure, perfect love.
~God is love. (1 John 4:16)~
To show our appreciation, we should try to model that same kind of love. None of us can ever be as perfect as God until we meet with Jesus again (there is no one righteous, not even one (Romans 3:10)). But we can move in the right direction.
We can follow God’s command to love our neighbor AS ourselves. And we can start with taking care of our own hearts, making them right with our Lord and Savior. Nothing would make God, our Father who art in Heaven, happier.
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Related Scripture (NIV)
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
- John 3:16
…God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.
- 1 John 4:16
And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.
- 1 John 4:21
Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
- 1 John 4:11 (Open your Bible and read all of 1 John 4)
…honor your father and mother,' and 'love your neighbor as yourself.
- Matthew 19:19
He answered: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'
- Luke 10:27
So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.
- Matthew 7:12
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
- Galations 5:22-23
And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased."
- Matthew 3:17
Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands.
- Deuteronomy 7:9
Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.
- Deuteronomy 6:5
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Links and Resources
About Valentine’s Day:
http://www.christianitytoday.com/holidays/valentines/
http://familyfun.go.com/parties/holiday/feature/famf199702_ff95valentine1/famf199702_ff95valentine1.html
http://www.annieshomepage.com/valentineslinks.html
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Lake/3888/love.html
http://www.homeword.ws/weeks/valEntine.asp
http://www.pictureframes.co.uk/pages/saint_valentine.htm
http://www.infoplease.com/spot/valentinesdayhistory.html
Marriage Advice from Homeword Ministry:
http://www.homeword.com/Freebies/Files/Rekindling_Romance_In_Your_Marriage.pdf
http://www.homeword.com/Freebies/Files/10_Ideas_Reconnect_Spouse.pdf
http://www.homeword.com/Freebies/Files/Ten_Tips_for_Treating_Your.pdf
Resources from In Touch on Love:
http://ww2.intouch.org/site/c.dhKHIXPKIuE/b.2406769/apps/s/content.asp?ct=3404661 (Falling in Love With Jesus)
http://ww2.intouch.org/site/c.dhKHIXPKIuE/b.2406769/apps/s/content.asp?ct=3406169
http://ww2.intouch.org/site/c.dhKHIXPKIuE/b.2406769/apps/s/content.asp?ct=3400461
http://ww2.intouch.org/site/c.dhKHIXPKIuE/b.2406769/apps/s/content.asp?ct=3406161
http://ww2.intouch.org/site/c.dhKHIXPKIuE/b.2406769/apps/s/content.asp?ct=3406155
http://ww2.intouch.org/site/c.dhKHIXPKIuE/b.2406769/apps/s/content.asp?ct=3400463
http://ww2.intouch.org/site/c.dhKHIXPKIuE/b.2406769/apps/s/content.asp?ct=3400493
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Seeking Independent Reviewers
Cross Your Heart Publications seeks Christian professionals who would be interested in volunteering their time to occasionally review books under development. We welcome pastors, Sunday school teachers, worship leaders, or simply devout believers who read the Bible and feel they can offer guidance regarding Biblical accuracy, usefulness of content, and organization.
Free autographed copy of the printed book presented to every reviewer we accept who reads and answers questions about all or a portion of a manuscript.
If interested, please contact rrager@crossyourheartpub.com.
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Unique Easter Cards
Purchase these original greeting cards created by the members of LegacyInspirations.com (original photography by group members). Send them to friends and family at Easter or any time to remind them of Christ’s love for us, or simply hang them around your house as an inspiration to your family.
$10 per set of 9 cards (3 different designs, sample of one shown on website)
Fundraising options are also available for your church or organization.
Please contact cdowns@crossyourheartpub.com or jerryk@legacyinspirations.com with orders or questions.
Interior text:
Left side: He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Matthew 28:6 (NIV)
Right side: Risen!
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Current and Upcoming Releases
http://www.CrossYourHeartPublications.com
Look for these Cross Your Heart Publications releases over the next five-to-six months:
- PRE-PUBLICATION ORDERS BEING TAKEN NOW: "Simply Balanced: How Seeming Bible Contradictions Teach Balance in Life" by Christina Downs.
From contradiction to balance—God's simple way to achieve balance in life. Look at six sets of Bible lessons that appear to contradict one other, and see how both sides of the equation are actually necessary. Without one, imbalance occurs. Jesus perfectly modeled this balanced living Himself. $12.95
Publication date: May 4, 2007.
Ebook currently available: $9.99.
Ebook free with pre-publication orders of the print book (offer valid through May 3, 2007).
Please check website for details.
- ORDER NOW: "The Walk" by Michelle Kunkle $10.00
~All proceeds benefit Harrold Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church in Greensburg PA.~
Take a conversational walk with God through the first five books of the Bible. Learn how understanding the beginning can help you grow closer to God today.
Produced by Legacy Inspirations together with Cross Your Heart Publications, The DeskTop, and The Gallery Dessert, http://www.legacyinspirations.com.
- Also check our site over the coming months for additional print books and ebooks on spiritual, family, professional, and life balance topics by various Christian professionals.
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Contact Information, Copyright Notice, Disclaimers, and Unsubscribe Instructions
Contact information:
Cross Your Heart Publications
Crossing your life with God's plan
P.O. Box 206
Loyalhanna, PA 15661
Phone: 724-787-6756
Email: info@crossyourheartpub.com
http://www.CrossYourHeartPublications.com
Member of Legacy Inspirations: http://www.legacyinspirations.com
Member of CSPA, Christian Small Publishers Association: http://www.christianpublishers.net
Member of PMA, The Independent Book Publishers Association: http://www.pma-online.org
Member of MidAtlantic Book Publishers Association: http://www.midatlanticbookpublishers.com
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We hope you have found this issue useful in helping you balance your life! If you have any suggestions for improvements, please email Chris at cdowns@crossyourheartpub.com. Thank you, and God bless you.
Disclaimer
Disclaimer of warranties and limitation of liabilities:
These files were prepared by Cross Your Heart Publications. Cross Your Heart Publications, including all representatives speaking on behalf of this company:
- Makes no warranty or representation of warranty, express or implied, with respect to using any information disclosed in these files.
- Has made every attempt not to infringe on or interfere with anyone's privately owned rights, including any party's intellectual property.
- Assumes no responsibility for any damages or other liability whatsoever (including any consequential damages) resulting from using these files or any information disclosed in these files.
Further, Cross Your Heart Publications employees have no professional counseling, psychiatric, or legal training and make no claim to be experts in these areas. Staff members provide emotional and spiritual advice on a general basis, based on personal knowledge and Biblical and other research.
Copyright 2007 Christina M. Downs, Cross Your Heart Publications
http://www.CrossYourHeartPublications.com
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