Note from author: This is a continuation of “Love for Enemies”.
“The Greatest Commandment
One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”
“The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”
“Well said, teacher,” the man replied. “You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And from then on no one dared ask him any more questions.” – Mark 12:28-34 (NIV)
I will be honest with you.
Loving people is very hard to do. There are people to whom I say, “I love you, but I don’t like you.” To be honest, that’s not love.
Love is unconditional.
“Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.
Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever!” – 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 (NLT)
God loves us all unconditionally! But He calls us to repent and turn away from sin in order to live by faith in Jesus!
Faith is a gift from God (Romans 4:16). Faith pleases God (Hebrews 11:6). Our faith leads to good works, that are accepted by God.
How can good works done by faith in Jesus be accepted by God?
Simple: love. Love for God and love for our neighbor as we love ourselves (Matthew 22:36-40).
Amen?
I find it wonderful that we have a God who doesn’t just command us to do things, He doesn’t expect blind obedience. God gives us the why.
Matthew 5:46-47 (NIV):
“If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?”
So the question remains: who do we love?
We love God and our neighbors as we love ourselves, yes, even our enemies, just as Jesus did.
Matthew 5:48 (NIV): “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
Here in Matthew 5:48, if we truly want to be perfect, we need to do more than just good things or avoid getting into trouble.
Most people think that we can get to heaven or make ourselves perfect by doing good things.
But that’s one of the biggest assumptions that people make. Doing good deeds does NOT get us into heaven.
Let’s read why in 1 Timothy 1:5 (NLT):
“The purpose of my instruction is that all believers would be filled with love that comes from a pure heart, a clear conscience, and genuine faith.”
We cannot make ourselves have a pure heart. We cannot clean our conscience and have we cannot make ourselves have genuine faith.
With all of us humanity, this is impossible. But with God, this is possible (Matthew 19:26; Mark 10:26-27).
Chances are, we may never achieve perfection here on earth. But we can continue to depend on Jesus, who is perfect example for us to follow in every way.
And we can trust in God with all our heart. He will show us which way to go and heal all our hurt (Proverbs 3:5-8).
He has given us everything we need in order to live right before Him (2 Peter 1:3)!
After all, living by faith and loving people, even loving our enemies is not done by our own strength. It is all done by His Spirit (Zechariah 4:6)! All we have to do is decide and act on our decision.
Are you ready to follow Him every day? If you truly want to know and be filled with His love, go before Him and pray. May you be filled with His love, overflowing even towards those who have hurt you.