Have you ever felt like someone was just loving you in order to get something from you? Have you ever used love to try and get something from someone else? How does God love us and how does He ask us to love Him and others?

Real love… That is the only thing that can produce real Shalom in your life and in your community. There’s “fake shalom” everywhere because there’s fake love everywhere. How do you know if it’s fake love or real? You know it’s real love if it’s free love. That means it’s love that costs you nothing… love that doesn’t have strings attached to it. Love that isn’t codependent on you doing something, or paying something…

“No justice, no peace.” Is this a biblical statement? Is it more than just a cry from the streets by the oppressed?
If there is no justice, there cannot be Shalom. In the context of this text, the Hebrew word translated “righteousness” means “executed justice.” To the extent justice is rightly executed, the effect is always Shalom: nothing-broken-nothing-missing peace. Human thinking, motives, and behavior must be transformed in order for Shalom to manifest itself on earth as it is heaven. But how does that happen? When we look at the state of humanity, we can easily lose heart.

Why does God Bless us? Why is He so gracious to us? What is God’s endgame?

We ask God to bless us all the time, and when we have really messed up we beg Him for grace… And He gives it. Oh how freely He gives it! But why? Why does God choose to bless us and show us grace? Is it merely for our sake? Yes, He loves us, for we are His Beloved children and precious in His sight (1 John 3:1). Yes, His grace is sufficient and covers all of our sin (2 Corinthians 12:9, Ephesians 4:7). Yes, He is a good Father who wants to bless His kids with the best gifts (James 1:17). But God has an even bigger plan than merely blessing us individually and showing us grace in our personal failings. He blesses us so that we might be a blessing to the nations. He is gracious to us so that we might show His grace to all peoples of the earth. Our greatest blessing actually comes in joining Jesus as He renews all things.

How does God feel about segregation? Is there division in the kingdom of God? What is God doing to bring people together from every color, culture and class?

God’s design from all of time has been for humanity to flourish across the planet, united in Him and living in dignified interdependence with each other and creation. This Shalom community comprised of all nations has always been God’s heart for us, and in the deepest places of longing, humans desire that reality as well. But as the chaos of sin entered creation and embedded itself in the human heart, the quest for power over others began manifesting in wars between people groups and things like racism and classism became something to expect in every society. There always seems to be a people group acting as the oppressor and there always seems to be a people group suffering as the oppressed.