Gal. 5:13-14 – “For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”
We see here and throughout the Scriptures how important it is for us to love our God by loving others (interesting, isn’t it; this subject is brought up so much starting all the way back to Leviticus 19:18 even though the implication is also found in the garden when you consider how Adam throws Eve under the bus…so it seems this is a product of the Fall after all…NOT loving our neighbor as ourselves!)
But this doctrine is essential in that it is the SECOND great commandment according to Jesus. “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?’ 37 And he said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.’” John’s Gospel focuses on this love for God and for one another, and His life exemplified it as he was known to say towards the end of his long life, “love one another” to all that he met.
The order is crucial for these 2 great commandments. When we love God with all our heart, we are then and only then able to love one another as Christ commands. “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” **Also, as Jesus says elsewhere, the love that God gives to us is no ordinary love that is found in the world today. Loving our neighbor is not natural for us on our own; it is God loving through us.
This kind of love requires us to seek another person’s good with the same seriousness that we give to our own welfare…and more…for we must also be willing to sacrifice ourselves for one another. In the Hebrew, this command reaches far beyond restraint from harm and calls for mercy, grace, honesty, generosity and reconciliation when possible. As Paul reminds the Galatians, “For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”
God is saying this morning, Mike, do you love me? And my unrestricted answer is Yes. Lord, I love you! But then I stop…reflect…and ask myself, How am/will I exhibit this love to others today? What do I need to do to let everyone around me know Christ and His love?
What about you?
God Bless y’all, today.
In His Grip,
Pastor Mike
