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You Must Love… and Why That is Good News!
Discussion and Devotional Thought of the Day:
26 He said to him, ‘What is written in the Law? What is your reading of it?’ 27 He replied, ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbour as yourself.’ 28 Jesus said to him, ‘You have answered right, do this and life is yours.‘ Luke 10:26-28 (NJB)
10 We are God’s work of art, created in Christ Jesus for the good works which God has already designated to make up our way of life. Ephesians 2:10 (NJB)
37 When you love somebody very much, you want to know everything about him. Meditate on this: Do you feel a hunger to know Christ? Because…that is the measure of your love for him. (1)
Maybe it is a politician, or maybe it is that star whose public acts would make you think she has absolutely no sense of morality. Maybe it is your neighbor who infuriates you, or maybe someone at church, even your pastor.
We get frustrated by them, they prove they are unworthy of trust, and our language when we speak of them gets animated, and it becomes obvious that we are against them. We might justify ourselves by saying we don’t hate them, but it is sure that we don’t love them.
For we wouldn’t treat them the way we do, in our thoughts, in words (both they heard and those we say to others) and in our deeds, if we loved them.
But we are called to love them, it is the way we are designed to live.
So how do we?
Not by our own strength of will, not by our own strength of character.
It can only happen as we love God, and more importantly, as we know we’ve been loved by God. That is how we change, or more accurately, how God changes us. For we are His work, a work that results in our works, our lives, our ability to love.
Remember, the command is to love God first! And Escriva’s words are correct, we need to have a hunger to know Christ, and the more we know Him (not just know of Him) the more we will know His love of us. Being loved by Him will change us, and knowing that love enables us to love as He does.
Even those who are difficult to love. Even for those whose lives require us to sacrifice greatly in order to love them. Even those that require incredible sacrifice, whose lives may repel us. Or those whose hatred of us, causes us to struggle to love them.
Is it possible? Look at Jesus on the cross, forgiving them. Then look at Stephen, in the pit being stoned, loving those stoning him enough to ask God to forgive their debt.
Its possible, but only in Jesus.
So love them even as Christ loves you!
Oh yes, the reason that loving them is good news, gospel, and not the command of the law? Here is the reason:
13 It is God who, for his own generous purpose, gives you the intention and the powers to act. Philippians 2:13 (NJB)
Amen!
The Key to Loving Your Enemies, Loving God. The Key to Loving God…
Devotional & Discussion Thought of the Day:
9 O God, we meditate on your unfailing love as we worship in your Temple. 10 As your name deserves, O God, you will be praised to the ends of the earth. Your strong right hand is filled with victory. Psalm 48:9-10 (NLT)
You still do not love the Lord as a miser loves his riches, as a mother loves her child… You are still too concerned about yourself and about your petty affairs! And yet you have noticed that Jesus has already become indispensable in your life… Well, as soon as you correspond completely to his call, he will also be indispensable to you in each one of your actions. (1)
Yesterday’s Bible Study time at church was talking about the attitude of St. Paul towards the people of Israel. How, even though those people would have killed him outright, his love for God, and His knowledge of God’s promises, led him to desire their salvation, no matter the cost. He said he would even give up is salvation, if that were possible,
A tough act to follow, as many of us realized, and even grieved over during the Bible Study.
Paul’s comments, “Imitate me, as I imitate Christ,” take on a far more challenging perspective. They drive home the idea of loving our neighbor – for love doesn’t count the cost. Even when our neighbor is our enemy, our adversary, or just a huge pain in the neck. Imitate Paul as he desires their salvation more than even his own, even as Paul imitated Jesus, as He died for those who caused His suffering and death. You and I. (All that debate about whether the Jews were responsible for His death, or the Romans is nonsense. He chose to die to save us from our sins, to restore us to the Father.)
Are you willing to give up all for those you love? Are you willing to love those who hate you?
Tough questions.
Even more difficult, when we realize Paul’s challenge to us is not alone, John issues it with these words,
20 If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a Christian brother or sister, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see? 21 And he has given us this command: Those who love God must also love their Christian brothers and sisters. 1 John 4:20-21 (NLT)
So how do we do this? Is there some metaphysical knowledge that unlocks in us the ability to love our neighbor? Is it some ritual that we must undergo, that magically gives us the ability to sacrifice all for our neighbor?
No, just simply – if you love God with all you are, when you correspond to His call on your life, then this happens. Not because of our will or volition, it is deeper than that. It is the work of God in our lives, what He has ordained for us. it is a life of Holiness, it is a life, set apart to Him.
Again, not easy, a radical transformation in our lives.
So how do we do these things, things God has emphasized through His word, through the Apostles, the Prophets, in the Law of Moses, in the Gospel of Christ?
Think.
No – not think about where the solution, that won’t help. We aren’t capable of it.
Do what the psalmist asks us to do – meditate on the Lord, on His love, on His mercy, on His promises revealed in His word. On His unfailing love. As Paul will say, explore its depths, its height, its width, its breadth. Realize how God’s love consumes us, how it transforms us, How the Holy Spirit makes it a reality in our life.
It sounds too easy, but keep in the forefront of your thoughts during the day the incredible love and grace of God. Spend time just thinking about it.
Don’t limit yourself to worship and praise, to just studying the Bible in classes, or studying it as you read it.
Just read and be in awe, let the words run through your heart like a bubbling brook, occasionally like a waterfall, Like the Niagara Falls, or Iguazu Falls in South America. (Watch the movie “The Mission” to see this – and an incredible story of loving your enemy!)
Let the promises amaze you, the patience of God astonich you, the miracles and wonders of God leave you without the ability to read any further.
And delight that all of this has been done and revealed – to you… for you, for your neighbor, for that person…….
Then you will love, ot as a command, but because the gospel is alive in you, you won’t be able to resist,
It will be our lives… lived as our Lord lived.
We’ll stumble for sure, we struggle at times, but the correlation between realizing the love of God, and loving others is clear… and it is necessary…
So dwell in Him, rejoice in His presence. Know His love!
(1) Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). Furrow (Kindle Locations 3299-3303). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Who Is My Brother? Who is my Neighbor? Who is my fellow-citizen?
Devotional thought of the day:
9 The LORD asked Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” He answered, “I don’t know. Am I supposed to take care of my brother?” Genesis 4:9 (TEV)
17 “Do not bear a grudge against others, but settle your differences with them, so that you will not commit a sin because of them. 18 Do not take revenge on others or continue to hate them, but love your neighbors as you love yourself. I am the LORD. Leviticus 19:17-18 (TEV)
317 The Apostle also wrote that “there is no more Gentile and Jew, no more circumcised and uncircumcised; no one is barbarian or Scythian, no one is a slave or a free man; there is nothing but Christ in any of us.” Those words are as valid today as they were then. Before the Lord there is no difference of nation, race, class, state… Each one of us has been born in Christ to be a new creature, a son of God. We are all brothers, and we have to behave fraternally towards one another! (Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). Furrow (Kindle Locations 1501-1505). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.)
We are a society that lives on the defensive. We see it nationally, where we spend billions on trying to protect our assets, and when our leaders try to help out others in need, they are blasted. We see it in how we want justice, as long as its impact is NIMBY (not in my back yard) as long as it doesn’t affect my neighborhood. We are wiling to help extended family, as long as it doesn’t cost our immediate family, or even our personal needs, wants, desires. We honor the sacrifice of the past, as long as it doesn’t mean we have ot sacrifice today. Martyrs of 500 years ago are honored, but we don’t want to face the fact that there are martyrs every day. Because that might mean we have to suffer.
It is the nature of our world, and if in no other way, we struggle to be in that world, but not of it, in regards to this.
We struggle to be one in Christ.
We struggle to forgive hurts, to reconcile, to ever desire those things. We want instead to justify our actions, our words, our thoughts, We want to be know as the ones who are right,the ones who do things the way they should be done, and those members of our family, or those nor from our community, or from our country, are always wrong.
We need to go back to the basics, to our baptism, to the moment the Holy Spirit cuts open our hearts and creates in us faith, when He gives us a new mind, when we become new creatures. We need to keep that moment before us, to remind us of who we are. Not just a Parker, nor just someone who lives in Cerritos, or the USA, but one who has found Jesus completely trustworthy, who realizes the love and mercy given to me, who recognizes the healing done in heart and soul.
It is then I can ask the questions of who is my brother, or neighbor, or fellow citizen on this journey through life. The answer?
Who did Christ die for?
The only way to love them, is in Christ. For then we can deal with the hurt, the pains the betrayals, knowing God has already dealt with those injuries at the cross. Even as He dealt with ours.
That’s what faith is… trusting in God’s presence, His love, His mercy, for us all…..
