Who Do You Love?
Good Tuesday Morning;
Before starting today’s devotional I ran across the following quotes:
The most glaring example of the cognitive dissonance on the left is the concept that human beings are inherently good, yet at the same time cannot be trusted with any kind of weapon, unless the magic fairy dust of government authority gets sprinkled upon them. Moshe Ben-David
“A free people ought not only to be armed and disciplined, but they should have sufficient arms and ammunition to maintain a status of independence from any who might attempt to abuse them, which would include their own government.”
- George Washington
Jumping into the devotional for today, I thought I would cover what is probably a very familiar text of the Scriptures; Matthew 22:34-40.
The Greatest Commandment
22:34-40
34Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together.
35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question:
36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
37 Jesus replied: ” ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’
38This is the first and greatest commandment.
39And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
The Pharisees Question Jesus (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Jesus had just been before the Sadducees and they had asked him difficult questions hoping to trip him up and find something to try him on because they were threatened by his power and following. This time it was the turn of the Pharisees; both groups of religious leaders were struggling with the influence Jesus was exerting. (see Matthew 21:23-27)
Notice that the one with the question was “an expert in the law”. He felt that he had a question which no matter how it was answered would get Jesus in trouble. Which ever commandment he chose, he would be saying that the others were not as important which would have been blasphemous since God himself had given the commandments or laws. But Jesus was up to the task and answered it easily.
If each of us as Christians, really took these verses to heart on a weekly, daily, and hourly basis many of the troubles we find ourselves in would be solved. When we love God with all of our heart, soul and mind it guides us to see what God’s answer is for each specific trouble or trial in our lives. Personally I find that when I get in the most trouble is when I am thinking of “I”. What I want. What I need. What I feel.
Notice that the second part of the “Greatest Commandment or the second command is “to love your neighbor as yourself”. How often do we practice this? How different a world would it be if we could incorporate this into our daily lives? How often do I, give myself a pass on something that I have done but complain about a neighbor that has the same problem?
Lastly, back to the beginning of the text, how many “religious people or leaders” are trying to manipulate people into following them rather than Christ Jesus because they want power rather than because of their love of God? I believe that this even speaks to people that are not Christians. These people can fall into two groups; people that are honestly asking questions about what you believe or want to share with you why they think you are wrong for believing the way you do, and those who are openly antagonistic to anything related to God.
The first group are people who you can have an open dialogue with and share what you believe. The second group, like the Pharisees and Sadducees merely want to tear down anything that takes away their power. These people will argue all day long without ever hearing a word you are really saying. They are seldom change their course.
Notice that throughout the New Testament Jesus had an answer for all of these people. Some were open to hearing his message and others rejected it. Your mission, should you accept it is to share the message of Jesus Christ with each person you can. What their response is, we don’t have control over.
Have a great day
Related articles
- 6 is Better Than 10? (5gsandacupofjoe.net)
- It’s All About Relationship | Matthew 22:34-40 | 123 (commonmansbiblejourney.wordpress.com)
Posted on June 5, 2012, in DAILY DEVOTIONAL and tagged Daily Devotional, Gospel of Matthew, Great Commandment, Pharisee, Regular Joe, Sadducees, The 5 G's. Bookmark the permalink. 1 Comment.
39And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
I wonder how many people truly do this? This is one of those toughies that a lot of folks give lip service to, but many in practice do not exactly exemplify. I try to adhere to this as much as I can, though I’m not always as successful as I like. (Especially when my neighbor mows down my wild food garden unasked and uninvited…) Many times do I turn the other cheek and just love them instead of getting nasty with them for things they have done and do. Most of the time those people fairly close to us do not do things to harm us intentionally. They’re just ignorant.
But one thing we must always remember, contrariwise is that, evil people with evil intentions WILL commit evil deeds. Not everyone is as nice as we’d like them to be.