Once upon a time, in a far away land, this question was asked of Jesus.
Mark 12:28-33
28And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” 29Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” 32And the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher. You have truly said that he is one, and there is no other besides him. 33And to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
For those that are not familiar with this passage or are not followers of Jesus, this is still of interest to you. What did He say was the most important?
In this time period there was unrest, mistrust of the government, and many would say that the Romans were wronging the nation of Israel. There were rebellions and much as we see today, there was so much going on.
Yet, Jesus didn’t address it. He didn’t say it was wrong or it was good. He said, “Love God, and love your neighbor as you love yourself.” If someone does not believe in God, it is hard to complete the first one, but loving your neighbor is still something we can do.
Does this mean if they are illegally in this country, we don’t love them anymore?
Does this mean if they refuse to wear a mask or they are wearing a mask, we berate them and mock them? Is that loving our neighbor?
Does this mean if you disagree with your politics, you steal their signs, post nasty messages about them and publicly seek to humiliate them?
I have been ashamed to be associated with those that call themselves Christians lately. I love God, but I know many people that claim to love Him, not following these two commandments. I cannot judge them on whether they love God with all their heart, soul and mind, but I can certainly say that the fruit I have seen shows they do not love their neighbor as themselves.
Matthew 24:12, 13
12And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. 13But he who endures to the end shall be saved.
Anyone that knows me, knows I do not preach sermons, but this is a bit of a sermon.
What will grow cold? Love. Why is that something that is mentioned? I think all we have to do is look around us to see what is happening in so many people’s lives. I see hate speech disguised as “warnings” or “just giving info” by many that I used to believe loved others and loved God. This ought not to be so, if I am using bible terms.
How can you change this?
You can’t change others. But you can change yourself.
Look to yourself before you write, talk, speak to others.
Am I showing love to my neighbor in these words?
Am I showing my love for God?
Am I enduring in love to the end?
