Do you ever marvel at the powerful
points of teaching that Jesus sometimes
packed into a short ‘sermon’?
There is one such illustration that I
would like to consider that is found
in Matthew 22:34-40. This is actually
the reply that Jesus gave to the Pharisees when
they were trying to trap him by getting Him to declare
which was the greatest commandment.
Jesus said, “Love the Lord your God with all your
heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.
This is the first and greatest commandment. And
the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.
On these two commandments hang all the Law and
the Prophets.” His answer was that both of these
commandments are the greatest and that each of them
was, and is, as important as the other.
Loving God, and also loving our neighbors as ourselves,
is the formula that God gives us to honor Him and to
live in peace with everyone else. Our neighbors may
not speak the same language or share the same
ethnicity, however in the eyes of Jesus, we are all His
children, members of the same human family.
What would our families, our churches and our
communities be like if all of us truly lived our lives in
accordance with the principles of these two great
commandments? I believe the time is now when
we must do just that!
Pastor Phil Robertson
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