(Matthew 22:36-38) Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with ALL thy heart, and with ALL thy soul, and with ALL thy mind. THIS is the first and great commandment.
(Matthew 22:36-38) Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with ALL thy heart, and with ALL thy soul, and with ALL thy mind. THIS is the first and great commandment.
Good topic! Amen! But Jesus' response didn't stop there -
(from the English Standard Version) The Great Commandment
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."
It's a light-bulb moment in the life of a believer when Jesus' words there finally do sink in - love is the foundation of the Law and what the prophets taught, and what God requires for us to properly worship Him! :idea:
It's different for us in this age than it was for the Israelites to whom the commandments were first given. Then, God had chosen one nation to serve Him and He found it necessary to enforce rules and regulations to them, because evidently they just weren't getting the understanding of how they should act out of love. So they got a list of "thou shalt not"s. Today's Christians worship God because we want to - we seek Him out because of our love for Him. (Of course He loved us first, but self-centered beings that we are, we think it's all our idea! lol) We read Jesus' teachings and we want to be like him- one with God, accepted and loved by God. :love: So we get a list of "thou shalt"s!
The Israelites were weighted down by the Law, but we're enlightened by God's divine Law of Love. It seems odd until we realize that the Law was only leading us to Christ, the embodiment of God's pure love. So all along God's laws were written out of love - love for Him first, and then that love is to be carried over into all other things. I think it's such a good thing to live now in this period of time - to be able to look back into history and learn the valuable lessons recorded for us in the Bible - makes us so appreciative of those in whom the examples, good and bad, were set for us to learn The Way!
It really is all about the love - if we have that first, then good things(fruit of our faith) follow. :friends: :grouphug:
:peace: