It’s been a little over a year since I have been back in Southwest Missouri area, and I have learned how selfish I really am. It’s crazy when you realize that EVERYONE has a soul. I know that sounds weird, but think about it. Everywhere we go, there are souls all around us. Here are the scriptures that have been smacking me in the face all year:
Matthew 22:34-40
34 But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. 35 And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 36 “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.”
So the 2 GREATEST commandments are to love God and love others as yourself. So, as Christians, how we interact with people seems to be a pretty big deal. These verses make me check my heart and see if I truly want to do these 2 commands. Plus, we can’t choose our neighbors. I feel like everyone is our neighbor.
John 13:34-35
34 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.”
In other words, Jesus just took the “love your neighbor as yourself” command to a new level. That’s why it’s a “new commandment.” Instead of loving everyone as yourself, now we are commanded to love them as Christ loved them. Reality check: He gave His life for them. Wow…
James 1:27
27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
The original word “religion” in this verse is only used twice in the new testament. It translates to mean worship. Hmmm… interesting. So true worship is looking after the orphans and widows and to not be polluted by the world. I think that word “world” means anything not of God. Sometimes people think that means the literal world. I don’t think that’s true. So this verse makes me check my heart and see if I really want that. If I am a Christian, then I have submitted to Christ’s teaching and commands and am following Him. If my friends looked at my life, would they say this verse is my life?
Matthew 25:31-40
31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. 34 Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ 37 Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? 38 And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? 39 And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ 40 And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’
Wow… so we love God by loving others. I guess the 2nd greatest command WAS a big deal. In the book of James, it says if we don’t love others then we aren’t loving God. This is a huge shift of perspective for most of us because we are so conditioned to take care of us and our family alone.
So here’s what I am wrestling with. I say I am a follower of Christ, but if I don’t love others, then I am not really following Him. That’s what scripture says. But, it’s not just the act that bugs me. That seems to be an easy fix to just change something I do. Here’s the kicker. We have to go back to the beginning of it all. We have to go back to the heart. Do I really love God as much as I say I do? This has been a world rocker for me. BUT this is something I have known for a long time. There has been some HUGE conviction and urgency in my life concerning this situation. In John 6, people here the real cost of following of Jesus and they stop following Him. Others in that chapter tell Jesus that there’s not another option but to follow Him. That kills me that people walk away because the cost is “too high.” It also awakens me to the reality that some will not follow.
As believers, we have to look at our heart as we see the real cost of following Him. It costs our lives. I have said in my heart that I don’t want to take care of others. I don’t want to give “my” money. I have to take care of me and mine. I was SO wrong. I have to live open-handed. God has commanded it. We are a team now. The bible says we are “crucified with Christ and I no longer live.” Kevin was crucified and when I gave my life to God and was baptized I became apart of the team. I am making some changes in my life to line up with God’s word. I realize now, as a pastor, that some of it didn’t. I hope these verse challenge you and free you like they did me. I don’t want to just follow the rules, and miss out on God Himself.
