Wednesday, July 27, 2005
The GREATEST commandment
If you noticed about me, I tend to bring up the same subject in most of my posts which is love. I feel that this is most commonly known but not emphasized between each other. Jesus said the greatest commandment is to love God and for us to love one another. That is the greatest commandment! Think about that for a moment. Out of all the commandments in the Bible, God wants you to love Him and to reach out to your neighbor despite his or her beliefs. Despite his or her politics. God loved all of us so much that He sent His son to die for our sins. So why are we constantly at odds with each other? Why can't we tell someone, hey God loves you and I love you and He wants you to accept Christ instead of, you are wrong and I am right and when you believe what I believe then I can be your friend. When we come before Him on judgement day will He ask us what political party were we for? Will he ask us who did we vote for in the last election? I know that this may sound basic but it's so important that we get this. Many like to find other scriptures in the Bible and base their actions on them. But no other commandment was said to be the greatest commandment but the commandment of love. All of God's promises to us are based on love. Praise God He loves us and continue to love us despite our many failings. So many are wasting their talents on debates and meaningless things. Use your talent to reach out to someone today and tell them about the overflow of love that they can receive from God and from you. Matthew 22:35-40
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1 comment:
Good post! I think that part of the reason we are constantly at odds with each other is the efforts by some leaders in the church (small "c", not necessarily the Eternal Church) to invoke God as a kind of trump card in political debates. In it's worst form it can be expressed this way: If God is with me, how dare you be against me?
My wife and I belong to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), whose leadership tends to be very far left-of-center (politically speaking). Sometimes these leaders try to impose a kind of litmus test on the laity - if you do not oppose the war in Iraq or support ordination of gays and lesbians, for example, you are not a real Christian. Similar “litmus tests” can be seen in some conservative denominations. What a spectacle we Christians present to the outside world!
This politics can be wearing! It has brought the ELCA to the brink of schism and ruin, and can swallow any church (liberal, conservative, etc.) if Christians are not careful. To paraphrase C.S. Lewis: Adding "Thus sayeth the Lord" to our merely human utterances is dangerous.
This issue of living together in Christian love is huge, and I hope you will post more on it. It's not an easy subject. I confess that I wrestle constantly with this matter. My wife is my inspiration on this, as she is on many things!
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