In this blog, we'll focus on the working being done at Sligo Presbyterian Church, Sligo, Pennsylvania. We'll also look at what's happening in Sligo, Rimersburg, Clarion, and all the other communities served by our congregation.
Tuesday, February 17, 2026
Sunday's Message - Offering Our Gift of Love
During the season of Advent, we talked about how we might unwrap some of the gifts given to us by God through Jesus Christ. Well, now that Christmas is over, we've shifted gears and considered the gifts we might offer God. Beginning on Sunday, December 28, we started to focus on the following:
PTL. Yesterday, the sun was out. The temperature was in the upper 40s. And according to the forecast, by Thursday, we may be in the mid-50s. In your face, Punxsutawney Phil. Six more weeks of winter, I don’t think so. You had your fun, but now it’s our turn, right? Of course, since we’re still in February and there’s a reason people say “March comes in like a lion, out like a lamb,” well, we’d probably be wise not to be too emotional at the movement.
And you know, when you think about it, that’s really an interesting thing to say immediately after the one day a year that’s all about emotion, and I’m talking about Valentine’s Day, a time of love and affection and joy for everyone in any kind of relationship, unless you forget about it or fail to buy your wife, let’s call her Debbie, those gifts that Jordan has been reminding me to get for the last three weeks: flowers and chocolate. Of course, if you do blow it, as I’ve done a few times, there’ll still be plenty of emotion, but they’re more like the kind you see on 48 Hours than a Hallmark movie. Fortunately, though, for me, this year, man, I thought I had it nailed. Now, y’all may not know this, but Debbie absolutely loves Snoopy, you know, from Peanuts. And so, instead of flowers and candy and a card, I bought her a Snoopy Valentine’s Day shirt. Pretty cute, right? I think so. In fact, I was so confident that I’d nailed it, when I placed the order, I could just imagine how happy she was going to be, when I handed her a little wrapped box with her favorite cartoon character hugging his very best friend with hearts popping out all over the place. Let’s just say, I was expecting to see a large deposit made to my account in the Rudiger “Love Bank,” which would be great because, to be honest, not only has my balance been pretty low for a while, I’ve been bouncing more than a few checks lately. But that was going to change, because thanks to my profound insight and incredible sensitivity, love was going to be in the air on February 14.
And you know, it’s also in the air today, because we’ve reached the last topic in the series we started right after Christmas entitled Our Gifts to God: Offering Ourselves to Our Heavenly Father. Now, as y’all know, for the last seven weeks, we’ve been talking about some of the gifts we can offer God. And during that time, we’ve considered why and how we might offer him our praise and our attention, our time and our talents, our treasures and our energy. And last week we focused on how we might give to God some of our enthusiasm and some of our passion and some of our emotions. And this morning, we’re going to tie it up by talking about offering God our love, something that, when push comes to shove, we might be better discussing and promising than actually accomplishing. And to do that, we’ll be answering two questions I know y’all have seen before: why should we offer to God our love and how might we actually do it. Now that’s the plan. And by the time we leave here, we should have a better idea about why and how we might channel our love toward the one who already loves us.
Of course, before we can talk about the method, I think it’s important to consider the reasons. In other words, why should we offer to God our gift of love? I mean, why should we offer to him our affection and our devotion? And why should we approach him with compassion and respect? Simply put, why should giving God our love be a big deal? Now, that’s the question. And I’ll tell you, based on what it says in Scripture, I think we have two excellent reasons.
You see, in my opinion, on one hand we should offer God our love, because it’s important to God. In other words, this is something that he really wants us to do. I mean, just listen to this exchange between a Pharisee and Jesus right near the end of his time here on earth, as recorded by the Evangelist Matthew.
After Jesus had made the Sadducees look foolish, the Pharisees heard about it and got together. One of them was an expert in the Jewish Law. So he tried to test Jesus by asking, “Teacher, what is the most important commandment in the Law?”
Jesus answered:
Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind. This is the first and most important commandment. [Matthew 22:34-38, CEV]
Now that’s what Jesus said; therefore, I think it’s safe to say that our love is important to God.
And you know, that just makes sense. I mean, our love for God shows that we really value the relationship into which we’ve been called and that we truly appreciate the love that he’s already shown us. And maybe that’s why, according to scripture, it’s the most important duty for all Christians. In other words, our most important responsibility isn’t accepting him and it’s not believing in him and it’s not even obeying him, although all those things are important. No, for God, our first and foremost obligation is to love him, because it’s through our love, we enter into a deep and intimate relationship with our creator, in other words, the kind of relationship he wants us to have. And it’s through our love that we ultimately have fellowship with Jesus, something I believe God also desires. I mean, remember Christ himself said, “If anyone loves me, they will obey me. Then my Father will love them, and we will come to them and live in them.” [John 14:23, CEV] You know, as I learned from some painful experience in my own life, it really doesn’t matter how much you love a person, if that person doesn’t love you back, you don’t have a relationship. And brothers and sisters, God wants to be in a relationship with us. And I’ll tell you, on one hand, that’s why I believe our love is so important to God.
But you know, on the other hand, our willingness to love God, man, I think it’s good for us. I mean, it’s good for us as we try to live the best lives we can live. You see, our love for God makes doing that easier and less painful. And I think that’s what the Psalmist was getting at when he wrote this:
Our Lord, everything you do is kind and thoughtful, and you are near to everyone whose prayers are sincere. You satisfy the desires of all your worshipers, and you come to save them when they ask for help. You take care of everyone who loves you, but you destroy the wicked.
I will praise you, Lord, and everyone will respect your holy name forever. [Psalm 14:17-21, CEV]
You see, when we decide to love God, I think it connects us to him, and I’m talking about the one who already loves us. In other words, it completes that relationship circle, in which he loves us and we love him back. And I’ll tell you, when that happens, I believe we can experience peace, peace as we look at ourselves and our own weaknesses, trusting that God’s mercy is eternal and his grace is irresistible. And we can find comfort, comfort as we live our lives and face our fears, trusting that the one who loves us is in control and that he’s working behind the scenes for his children, just like Paul said when he wrote to the Romans, “We know that God is always at work for the good of everyone who loves him. They are the ones God has chosen for his purpose” [Romans 8:28, CEV] And we can feel confidence, confidence as we move forward into the future, trusting that regardless of where we go or what we face, regardless of the difficulties we endure or the disappointments we experience, God is with us and he’s on our side and he will never, and I mean, never let us go, something that I think Paul understood when he wrote to the Corinthians, “But it is just as the Scriptures say, ‘What God has planned for people who love him is more than eyes have seen or ears have heard. It has never even entered our minds!’” [1 Corinthians 2:9, CEV] I’m telling you, when we respond to God’s love for us by loving him back, man, that’s going to be really good for us. And along with it being important to God, in my opinion, that’s why we should offer him our gift of love.
And how can we do it? How can we give back to God what he’s already given to us? In other words, what are some things we might do to show that his love for us is not one-sided? How can we offer God our love? Now, in my book, that’s a pretty important the question. And I think we can get a pretty good answer by going back to what Jesus said when he offered what he believed was the most important commandment of all, you know, to love God. Let me explain.
You see, first, we can decide to love God with all our heart. In other words, we can choose to look past the distractions and make him and his will a priority in our lives. As a matter of fact, I think it’s simply taking a step back and relaxing and allowing the one who already loves us to work within us, sort of like Paul described to the Romans, when he wrote,
Dear friends, God is good. So I beg you to offer your bodies to him as a living sacrifice, pure and pleasing. That's the most sensible way to serve God. Don't be like the people of this world, but let God change the way you think. Then you will know how to do everything that is good and pleasing to him. [Romans 12:1-2, CEV]
You see, according to the Bible, our hearts aren’t just about one particular organ or one particular feeling. Instead, the heart represents our entire inner being. And so, when we’re loving God with our entire heart, I think we’re offering him our affection, the deepest emotions that we have and those aspects of our life that we cherish most. We’re also recognizing that he’s the Lord of our disappointments and our fears and our doubt, that all that’s part of us, and yet, he still loves us. Our affection belong to him. But that’s not all, because we’re also offering him our will, our intentions and our choices and our decisions. They now belong to the one who loved us before his laid the foundation of the universe. It’s sort of like that old saying, “If Christ is your copilot, change seats.” Our will belongs to God. And so do our thoughts, and I’m talking about our inner dialogue and those things on which we focus when we’re all alone. Of course, since we’re not perfect, I think we’re more of a work in progress rather than a finished product; therefore, we might want to show the same kind of patience to ourselves that God has shown to us. You see, for me, that’s part of loving God with all our heart.
And second, if we’re serious about offering to God our love, we can also decide to love him with all our soul. In other words, we can dedicate to him our entire being: our passions and our personalities and our priorities. In a real way, it’s anchoring our identity in God’s truth, using our talents for his purpose, and making choices that reflect his values and not the nonsense promoted by the world. As a matter of fact, I think it’s adopting the perspective of the Psalmist when he wrote this:
You are my God. I worship you. In my heart, I long for you, as I would long for a stream in a scorching desert.
I have seen your power and your glory in the place of worship. Your love means more than life to me, and I praise you. As long as I live, I will pray to you. I will sing joyful praises and be filled with excitement like a guest at a banquet.
I think about you, God, before I go to sleep, and my thoughts turn to you during the night. You have helped me, and I sing happy songs in the shadow of your wings. I stay close to you, and your powerful arm supports me. [Psalm 63:1-8, CEV]
Now, I think this is what loving with our soul is all about. You see, for me, it’s about surrendering, surrendering our identity to God and allowing him to shape our worth and our interests and our personalities rather than letting the world conform us to its mold. And it’s about following, following the example left by Jesus and to do it in a way that’s a whole lot more active and engaged than just talking about it or promising to do it. I mean, remember Jesus said, “If you love me, you will do what I have said, and my Father will love you. I will also love you and show you what I am like.” [John 14:21, CEV] And I think it’s also about resting, resting in God’s love. And even though that may sound a whole lot easier than surrendering and following, actually I think it’s a lot more challenging, because it means giving up some of the control that we value and some of the comfort that we crave and simply finding our security and peace and hope in God’s love and grace and mercy. Now, for me, this is how we can love God with all our souls.
And third, as it relates to our minds, I mean, as it relates to our thoughts and our imagination and reasoning, well, I think love is shown when we intentionally focus our attention on God, not unlike the people described by the writer of the first Psalm. He said,
God blesses those people who refuse evil advice and won't follow sinners or join in sneering at God. Instead, they find happiness in the Teaching of the Lord, and they think about it day and night.
They are like trees growing beside a stream, trees that produce fruit in season and always have leaves. Those people succeed in everything they do. [Psalm 1:1-3, CEV]
You see, if we want to love God with our minds, I mean, if we want to be like trees growing beside a stream, we might need to study and to learn, to study scripture and to learn more about the faith we claim and to move beyond just feeling God’s presence to actually understanding his nature. And we might need to seek out and to open up, to seek out ideas that might challenge some of our assumptions and to open up our perspectives so that we might understand more than we do right now and to shift from mindless distractions to intentional, focused thought. And finally, we might need to allow ourselves to change and to grow, to change when some of the stuff we’ve always thought no longer makes sense and to grow into the men and women God created us to be and to integrate what we know about God with our vision of ourselves and our world so that what we believe is in harmony with what we see. I’m telling you, we can love God with all our minds. And when you combine that with all our hearts and all our souls, for me, that’s how we can offer God our gift of love.
Of course, I sincerely hope this works out better for us than my Valentine gift did for me. I guess, you could say that I ran into a couple of potholes on the way to the Love Bank. You see, instead of having the shirt sent to the church, I had it delivered to the house. And since Debbie orders things from Amazon using my account (something I already knew), when it came on Tuesday, she opened it up, assuming it was one of those yard flags she’d ordered. Both the little wrapped box and the surprise were gone. But I’ll tell you, that really wasn’t the worst. You see, when she took it out of the package to show me, it looked kind of small, because that’s exactly what it was. For reasons I can’t even comprehend, I’d ordered a man’s small. No deposit for me, just another bounced checked. My gift to her wasn’t exactly the expression of love I’d hoped.
But you know, that doesn’t have to be the case with us, not as we make our own loving gift to God. You see, because we know it’s important to him and good for us, we can obey the command of Christ and offer God all our heart and all our soul and all our mind. This we can do. And I’ll tell you, when we do, I think we’ll be giving to God our gift of love.
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