Two Commandments or Three or One?
The Greatest Commandment
Matthew 22:34-40
Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question:
"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied: " '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.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."
God woke me up early this morning thinking about this particular passage, and since I'm up I might as well blog about it.
The Greatest Commandment in a nut shell: Love God. The second: Love your neighbor like you love yourself.
And that, my friend is where I started to think. Love God. Sounds easy enough. He's our creator, the one who has our lives mapped out, maybe. God's always the one that we turn to when we're in a bind. Sure, loving God is easy. Right?
But love your neighbor like you love yourself. That one isn't as easy as the first. Who are my neighbors? The strangers that live on my street? How about the people I interact with on a daily basis. What about people that live in other countries that I've never met and never will, are they my neighbors? What about other christians, even if they believe something a little different. Are they my neighbors? But some of these christians have caused me a lot of pain in my life, do I really have to love them?
But the scripture says, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' As yourself. There's a catch. You can't just love your neighbor. You have to love your neighbor AS YOURSELF. But that would imply that you do actually love yourself. Somedays its easy to love me, but there are days when I wouldn't be my friend, or my neighbor.
So did Jesus give us two commandments or three?
Love God.
Love your neighbor.
Love yourself.
Or let me put it this way,
Love yourself so that you can
Love your neighbor so that you can
Love God.
Or maybe this way.
Love.
Love.
Love.
Matthew 22:34-40
Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question:
"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied: " '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.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."
God woke me up early this morning thinking about this particular passage, and since I'm up I might as well blog about it.
The Greatest Commandment in a nut shell: Love God. The second: Love your neighbor like you love yourself.
And that, my friend is where I started to think. Love God. Sounds easy enough. He's our creator, the one who has our lives mapped out, maybe. God's always the one that we turn to when we're in a bind. Sure, loving God is easy. Right?
But love your neighbor like you love yourself. That one isn't as easy as the first. Who are my neighbors? The strangers that live on my street? How about the people I interact with on a daily basis. What about people that live in other countries that I've never met and never will, are they my neighbors? What about other christians, even if they believe something a little different. Are they my neighbors? But some of these christians have caused me a lot of pain in my life, do I really have to love them?
But the scripture says, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' As yourself. There's a catch. You can't just love your neighbor. You have to love your neighbor AS YOURSELF. But that would imply that you do actually love yourself. Somedays its easy to love me, but there are days when I wouldn't be my friend, or my neighbor.
So did Jesus give us two commandments or three?
Love God.
Love your neighbor.
Love yourself.
Or let me put it this way,
Love yourself so that you can
Love your neighbor so that you can
Love God.
Or maybe this way.
Love.
Love.
Love.
posted by Leslee at
4:27 AM
1 Comments:
I love it. :)
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