It has been told to us that the greatest commandment is to love the Lord our God with all of your heart, mind, soul, and strength. This is a fantastic thing to aspire to, I do not think that is impossible, but I would maitain that it is extremely difficult. There are a myriad of things that the devil uses to distract us from God and that get in between us and Him. I have often heard this idea of loving God spoken of in church, quite a common topic, and an excellent one at that. The problem is, however, the second greatest commandment or the Golden Rule, Love your neighbor as yourself. Hmmm, tricky isn't it. Kind of an easy concept to throw around flippantly. Common questions when regarding this commandment are ones like, "Who is my neighbor?" When asked this, Jesus responded with the parable of the good samaritan. At the conclusion Jesus asks, "Who do you think acted as a neighbor to the man who fell among robbers?" The inquisitor's response was, "The one who showed mercy." Jesus responded, "You go and do likewise." The good samaritan went out of his way to clothe the man who fell among robbers, clean his wounds, and see that he would be taken care of. That is a marvelous example of true selfless love; sacrificing love. The Samaritan man loved his neighbor. He sought nothing for himself but that the man who needed help was given what he needed.
Jesus clearly tells us that we are also to love our neighbors as ourselves. I am not sure if this is true for you, but I tend to be extremely selfish. The selfishness I am speaking of is also more than just the kind that wants the last of the ice cream or to be in line first. It is that, but also the pride that makes my judge people, it makes me insult and degrade people hands over the use of my tongue to satan, the same tongue that praises my God. You and I are so, so much more selfish and self -absorbed than we can even realize, it is ridiculous how conceited we are. Thank God for unlimited grace, though we must still work on becoming selfless, no excuses. So for us to love someone as ourselves, that is pretty hard, we first have to push back our own selfish desires and then start to feel for the other person and to love them as we love ourselves. You want the best for youself, do you not? Even when serving God I have found myself not wanting to do certain jobs, why? because the "all important me" does not feel like doing that. The "me" monster is hideous things and when it rears its ugly head, watchout and pray for love. It is not until after I start working, whether the place I desired or not, that I realize my heart is in the wrong place and that I need to pray for a selfless love. As I work God usually brings to mind the face of someone that is being served and how by wanting the best for me I have slighted them. If I can love them and want the best for them, they will see God working in me and through me. I think it is pretty obvious that if we all lookout for ourselves no one wins, someone will always be forced into a lower caste, status, rank or what have you. If we change our mindset, however, and all love each other and seek the best for each other then everyone will have their needs met. When I help you, you help me. Not out of obligation, but out of a deep-seated, genuine desire for that person to do well. The reversal of that applies to when you love me. This is an extremely difficult trait to come by, but I believe that God will help you greatly with it.
The early church depicted in Acts gives a great example of what happens when people love each other. They devoted themselves to the teaching of the apostles (pastors now apply) and to fellowship with one another. The passage of scripture continues to describe the great love of God and people that the early church had, it also says at the end that the Lord added to their numbers daily those who were being saved. They loved those who were not of them. Perhaps this is a stretch to what you are accustomed, but I think it is within reason to say that the Lord used the love of the early church to add to their number day by day. God uses us for immeasurably more than we an ask or imagine (Eph. 3:20-21). When read in context, verses 20-21 are seen as the after effect of our love. (Eph. 16-19)
Jesus even commands us to love our enemies. I do not have a bible with greek translation in it with me now, but I would imagine that the word used for love was the aforementioned agape from previous posts. The selfless love. James 3 talks alot about the tongue and the heart behind it. Blessings and cursings should not come from the same mouth, but they do. He poses the question, "Can a spring release both salty and unsalty water?" This rhetorical question is meant to make you think, "hmm, I say things that cut people down. The spring, my heart, is messed up and I need to make a change." It is one thing to bite your tongue and not say anything, but you are still thinking it in your mind, which can be, in effect, murder. It is another whole thing completely to change your heart and put on an attitude of love for that person.
Okay, this has to be the hardest part of loving others as ourselves. Not saying things about people that deserve it. Take politicians, rude co-workers or classmates, celebrities, for example, people that just make you cringe when you hear about them or think about them. Nancy Pelosi and Obama are quite popular among people I often hear. (I am not calling anyone out or accusing anyone, just an observation, I have done it many times myself). Although we may not agree with them, or anyone for that matter, on things, it by NO means gives us right to degrade them or to verbally "curbstomp" them if you will, a.k.a. Murder. They are made in the image of God and ought to be treated as such (James 3:9). Under no circumstances should we ever degrade people made in the image of God. This fact is hard for me to grasp personally.
I am going to leave you with two sriptures. Read them and think about them, let God work in you.
1 John 3:10-23
Philippians 3:12-14
P.S. They would not paste. So I figured I'd let you get in the word now.
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