Jesus said: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength (Mark 12:30).
Consider the great love of the Lord (Ps. 107:43).
     Each year I love Mary more than the previous year. How is this possible? Because I have grown to know her better!
     Our highest goal is to love God more. How do we learn to do that? Learn to know Him better!
What is God like?
     Jesus gives us reasons to know and love the Father. One lesson He shared was His story of the Prodigal Son.
     The Prodigal left home seeking fun and entertainment. He found his kind of “friends” and joined them, until all his money and “friends” were gone. Then he reluctantly headed for home, expecting well-deserved, harsh treatment from his father. To his surprise, his father received him with open arms – no rejection and with great joy.
     The father was so overjoyed with his son’s return that he threw a big party and invited family and friends to rejoice with him. The son could not understand his father’s joy, but thought his father would eventually take him aside and tell him what a big disappointment he had been to his family. Indeed, the boy’s brother was angry and thought the father was acting foolishly. The brother thought the Prodigal did not deserve to be treated so well.
     The father continued to rejoice and to honor his prodigal son by ordering the servants to get him the best possible clothing, and even a valuable ring.
     Most of us have turned away at some time or other from honoring and obeying the Father, in order that we could do what we wanted. Later we returned to God and received His forgiveness and help. But then once again some other pleasure of the world would lure us to enjoy something our Father has told us to avoid.

 by Merlin Carothers

      We came back to God – again – and He greeted us with love and forgiveness – again. Can we keep on doing this all our lives? Possibly. But our Father loves us too much to forever ignore our disobedience. Like the loving Father He is, He may eventually say, Now you must suffer enough to help you realize what you are doing to yourself. Or if our mission in life is in jeopardy, God may permit severe difficulties to come immediately after our failure to listen and to obey Him.
     Men and women in prison often tell me that they reached the limit of their disobedience and now are suffering the agony of being locked in a lonely cell for months or years. But God uses this time to give them another opportunity to receive His forgiveness and love. He seems to be saying, “Whatever it takes I will use it to bring you back home.” And many do find their way back to the Lord.
     Jesus wants us to see that His Father loves us so much that He forgives and accepts us as His child, and always opens His arms to us when we want to come to Him. If you have acted somewhat like the Prodigal Son, now is the time to run back to your Father and rejoice, and expect Him to treat you far better than you deserve. He always wants us to grow in learning to love Him with all our heart, soul, mind and strength.

by Mary Carothers

     Submission is an important facet. In these days of worldwide rebellion and anarchy, how greatly we need to learn to submit ourselves – not only to those in positions of authority – but in love to one another (see Eph. 5:21).
     Who does not want the fruit of the Holy Spirit (see Gal. 5:22) to grow in their lives?  No one would deny their importance for Christians.  I think of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control as sort of being the personality of Jesus.  Surely Christ is glorified as He is formed in us (see Gal. 4:19). 
     Many believers are experiencing the reality of the gifts of the Spirit in their ministries.  Still another exciting facet. 
     While there are many more facets to explore, let me mention just one more - faith.  So important is faith that we cannot please God without it (see Heb. 11:6).  Paul says in Galatians 5:6 that it is faith, working through love, that is most important.
     Each facet of the Gospel is significant in itself as well as being essential to the whole.  To have a vital Gospel to present to the world, we must have the balance of the whole Gospel.