Because People Matter

Question 1
What traits or passions were instilled in you during childhood (competitiveness, just playing for fun)? Have those traits carried into adulthood or changed?  

Question 2
Read Matthew 22:36-40. What is the “second commandment?” How does it “sit” with you to be told to love others like you love yourself. Read Matthew 7:12 (The Golden Rule), where Jesus states the same principle slightly differently. Which passage “suits” you better? Why do you think that is?   

Question 3
Cove Core Value #2: We love people unconditionally. Why can’t we love God without loving other people? Read 1 John 4:8. How can someone who “isn’t a people person” still live out the call to love unconditionally? Read John 13:34-35. Who do you feel Jesus is telling them to love in this passage?   

Question 4
Cove Core Value #4: We stay united. How would it change your behavior if you sought to understand the opposite perspective in every conflict? What character qualities are needed to resist the desire to prove a point and instead seek unity? Read Philippians 2:2-7 and Ephesians 4:1-3.  

Question 5
Cove Core Value #6: We keep it real. Why is it unloving to “fake it?” What struggle or imperfection do you hesitate to reveal – even in a place as safe as your Life Group? Read Matthew 23:1-4 Unlike the Pharisees, we need to bear the same burdens we place on others. If you are comfortable, share about an experience where your honesty about an embarrassing struggle helped someone else overcome or bear their own burden. 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 Like Paul, sometimes we have difficult “thorns” that aren’t taken away from us though we have asked God to take them. How has someone else’s difficulty encouraged or strengthened you?