Matt 22:37-39 (the Message Bible) Jesus said, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence.’ This is the most important, the first on any list. But there is a second to set alongside it: ‘Love others as well as you love yourself.’ These two commands are pegs; everything in God’s Law and the Prophets hangs from them.”
At our church, we sum up these verses as "love God, love people". Loving God isn't a fleeting or romantic notion... It's a life-changing path you actually place yourself on and walk down. To love God with all your passion, prayer and intelligence is to focus your whole self on Him. Your thoughts and prayers, your strengths and actions, your hopes and dreams, your desires and faith - focused on, motivated and compelled by your love for Christ. It changes the way you live.
Love people - now this one can get complicated due to the nature of humanity and the corrosive effect of sin. When Jesus died, he paid the same price for every single individual both past, present and future. The highest value was paid and sacrificed FOR ALL... We are ALL desperately loved by God. He doesn't ask us to place ourselves in abusive situations, stay in manipulation, or tie ourselves to dangerous people, but loving others is as simple and as uncomplicated as seeing them as Christ does. Born with purpose, great love, and the hope of eternal life. It changes reaction to response, hates to compassion, and indifference to kindness. Love God, Love People.
No comments:
Post a Comment