The Greatest Commandment (Matthew Chapter 22)
36"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" 37Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' 38This is the first and greatest commandment. 39And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' 40All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."
So who was your neighbor today? Was it your teacher at school who is having a rough time at home? Was it the lonely kid, the loner, the geek, or the dork in your class? Was is the kid in your neighborhood who never gets invited to anything? Was it the person in class who got laughed at today? Was it the shy girl who no one seems to know anything about?
Was it the homeless person you saw on the street? Was it the mother and children who checked into the Domestic Violence shelter this week? Was it the person you saw on the news whose house burned? Was it the guy who only has one set of clothes? Was it the lady who did not eat a meal today? Was it someone fighting cancer? Was it the kids in your school who can not read? Was it the kids who abuse substances so they don't have to face the truth about their insecurity?
Was your neighbor an African street kid? An HIV orphan from Malawi? Was it a girl from New Orleans who is still not back in school? Was it the kid from the Sudan who was maimed in an uprising? Was it the little boy in a Russian orphanage who has no hope for the future? Was it the Afghan family who is displaced from the war? Was it an illegal immigrant family from Mexico? Was it children all over the world who don't have clean water?
God made it pretty simple for us. We are supposed to love Him with everything we have got. And part of loving Him with everything we have is to love His people. He wants us to love our family and our friends but loving God means loving His family as well. His family is incredibly diverse and incredibly needy in our world. Ours is a world in need of so much and our love for God is demonstrated by our willingness to feel the need and to act. God calls us to care for "the least of these" in response to our thankfulness for His gift of grace. By caring for our "neighbors" whether they be in our home, our neighborhood, our school, our city, our country or our world we live lives that are holy in the sight of God.
Look around you. Who is it that needs you? Who do you need to serve? What is going on around you in the world that you can not stand? Where do you feel a passion for change? Who or what is God calling you to? Which part of His world is He asking you to improve?
Who is your neighbor? And how will you serve your God?
2 comments:
that's powerful and well written my friend.
For many including myself, we know who our neighbor is. The true test is for me to not only know my neighbor, but to attempt to love he or she as much as I love myself.
therein lies the problem.
miss you all
nate
So true! If I took care of "the least of these" as much as I do for myself His world would be a lot better off. But so many are not even aware of the need...or maybe don't want to be aware! As for me, I am still 'Under Construction!"
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