Love Your Neighbor as Yourself...

Matt 22:36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law? 37 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. 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

Easy, right? Really? As stated by Jesus, these two commandments are the summation of the Law and the prophets, and as we know the law was given to show man his sin. We are not meant to be able to follow the law in and of ourselves. In fact, there has been only one person who has kept the law perfectly…Jesus the Christ. Following this logic, we cannot love God with all our hearts, souls, and minds without help from Him. Just as the gift of God’s grace gives us the desire and ability to believe unto salvation, that same grace gives us the ability to agapaō God with all our hearts, souls, and minds. What about the mandate that we are to agapaō our neighbor as ourselves? The same must, of course, apply. I would add to that the following: one cannot love his neighbor as himself unless he loves God with all his heart, soul, and mind; and one cannot love God with all his heart, soul, and mind without loving his neighbor as himself.

Do I love my neighbor as myself? I certainly try, but I will be the first to admit that I find difficulties in that from time to time. What does that say about my love for God? I think it means that while God has begun a good work in me, it is not yet finished. I am a work in progress. Do I love God? Emphatically, yes! Is it the perfect love that He demands? Sadly, no. How can I, an imperfect being, have perfect love? As I said, God gives the ability, I try, and eventually God will help me (allow me?) to get it right.

Lord I believe…please, help my unbelief!

Jerry
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