Two Commandments

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Scripture

“The most important commandment is this…You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’ The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.”
~Mark 12:29-31, NIRV

Quote

I love mankind, it is people I can’t stand.

~Charlie Brown

 my-thoughts-red

A Jack 4God gave Adam only one command to obey, “You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden—except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die.” Adam had the freedom to eat from any tree he choose, except one, the tree of knowledge; this was his only prohibition. Can you imagine having only one commandment. Some two thousand years later God gave Moses Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai but Moses and the Israelites were never able to keep them; they broke them again and again. By the time Jesus came, the Jews had hundreds of commandments but they had missed the spirit and intent of them all. God’s gave the law to benefit us not burden us. The law is to help us relate to each other in a loving way. When we love our neighbor like we love ourselves, we don’t take what belongs to him and that includes his wife. We certainly don’t take his reputation or his life. A Jewish lawyers attempted to entrap Jesus with the question: “What is the most important commandment?” Jesus gave a brilliant answer, He summarized all ten commandment into two: loving God and loving our neighbor. In other words, love fulfills all the commandments.

I have noticed in my latest venture through the bible there is a huge emphasis on treating people fairly, on showing mercy and kindness to others. I am not down playing the First Commandment which is to love God with all our heart but the second commandment is also very important to God and that is loving our neighbor as much as we love ourselves. I noticed this verse in reading through Isaiah in the NIRV and there are many more like it...Learn to do what is right! Treat people fairly. Give hope to those who are beaten down. Cheer them up. Stand up in court for children whose fathers have died. And do the same thing for widows. {Isaiah 1:17} Micah says basically the same thing, The LORD has shown you what is good. He has told you what he requires of you. You must treat people fairly. You must love others faithfully. Zechariah 7:9 reads...God rules over all. He says to his people, “Treat everyone fairly. Show faithful love and tender concern to one another. If we fail to love our neighbor as much as we love ourselves, we fail period. Nothing we do in terms of religious devotion is worth anything if we fail to love each other.
Growing up there were seven of us, four girls and three boys. My oldest sister was 23 when my baby sister was born so we were spread out. We didn’t always get along but it was clear that our mother was never pleased when we were unkind to each other. My mothers favorite verse was Ephesians 4:32, she quoted it so much that I memorized it from hearing her. Be kind and tender to one another. Forgive each other, just as God forgave you because of what Christ has done.
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  • I had a wonderful experience on church visitation last night. I stopped to see Randy Lewis who has been in a battle with cancer. Randy was getting ready to go to Church. He, Vickie, Hope and Caleb go to East Highland. We had a great visit with the family and closed with a pray huddle. Randy’s cancer is in remission. He looks good but my greatest joy is that he had come to know Christ personally. His family is thrilled and so am I.
  • Another great LORD’s day. I enjoyed it and was thrilled to get to baptize two more precious souls: Harley Fields and Seth Fagan. I have the video of Seth if I can get it uploaded.
  • Things looking up for our Saturday morning CHRISTMAS BREAKFAST with Senior Adults at Cracker Barrel. We have over 20 committed to coming. I am tickled.
  • I think we might get some rain this week, PRAISE THE LORD. I have never seen so many dry ponds and creeks. I am excited about our chances.
 

Thomas Kinkade Christmas
Thomas Kinkade Christmas

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