Faith Family Football Challenge #2Sample

READ MRK 12:28-31 

The F.A.M.I.L.Y.® Secret!

What do you think would happen if we were able to truly love our neighbor as ourselves? 

Okay finally, here’s the “secret sauce,” the mnemonic device I promised you for the word F.A.M.I.L.Y.®

F = Forget 

A = About 

M = Me

I = I 

L = Love 

Y = You

F.A.M.I.L.Y.® = Forget about me, I love you!  

What does that mean? The Old Testament in the Bible talked about “an eye for an eye” - kind of “the punishment fits the crime” philosophy.  But Jesus introduces this whole new concept of putting others before ourselves. And other than loving the Lord first and foremost, this is what we should be doing!  F.A.M.I.L.Y.® = Forget about me, I love you!  - Loving our neighbors.

When I was growing up, I was in the Boy Scouts. We met once a week in the evening and went camping, hiking and climbing a lot on weekends. I had a blast learning about the outdoors, wilderness survival, tying knots, serving my community through my Eagle project and being on staff at summer camp. I learned about how to live life in a way that I could take care of myself in any situation, but more importantly, how to serve people around me and in my community.  How? Through practice and constant reminders!  

The Boy Scouts had a few things that we memorized to help us in our daily lives. Their motto is “Be Prepared.” Their slogan is “Do a good turn daily.”  They even gave you a special coin to carry around with you in your left pocket. The idea was that when you did your good turn - whatever it was - you would transfer the coin from your left pocket to your right pocket, just as a reminder of what you did.  The Scout oath is “On my honor, I will do my best. To do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law; To help other people at all times; To keep myself physically strong, mentally awake and morally straight.”

I think all of these things can help guide us here in our desire to walk with God in our daily life AND live out this premise of F.A.M.I.L.Y.® that Jesus is talking about when He says, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” i.e., Forget About Me, I Love You! 

Using these scouting themes, we want to be prepared by keeping ourselves in God’s word, reading the bible regularly to feed us and encourage us. From the oath, we want to be our best, serving God is all we do, and to do this, we need to keep our bodies in good condition, keep our minds clear, and keep ourselves above reproach, out of trouble, setting a good example in our culture.  And the slogan “Do a good turn daily?” That sounds exactly what Jesus is talking about in loving our neighbor as ourselves - be there for each other. 

I wear a F.A.M.I.L.Y.® wristband. You know why? Because it’s always right there in front of me as a constant reminder: “Forget about me, I love you!”  Serve others first, whether that’s your family, your schoolmates or teammates, your friends or complete strangers - even people you do NOT like at all. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”  Let’s try our best to be a light in this world - do a good turn daily - and to love people even though there is hate that exists around us. Let’s treat everyone as F.A.M.I.L.Y.®  and follow Jesus as he asks us to love your neighbor as yourself! 

ASK God to show up, to join you in your time with Him today.

WRITE:  Think of some people you can “love” today, no matter what. Write down this F.A.M.I.L.Y.® “Forget about me, I love you!” concept and how you think you can start practicing living this every day. 

MEDITATE:  Pray for the people on your list, the ones you’d like to “love.”  Pray that God inspires you with ways to reach out to them so that your relationship will be changed with God’s presence.  And pray for yourself, asking God to help you identify immediately opportunities for loving others as you live out each day. 

VIDEO:

Derrick Brooks, 11x NFL Pro Bowler