Tag: The Great Commandment

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Names

Daily Reading

Romans 14-16

Daily Thought

The last chapter of Romans is like the credits at the end of a movie. I don’t sit through the credits. I usually make it to about verse 4, then I start skimming, but Paul names over thirty people by the end of this chapter. 

My son-in-law, Staphon, works at Pixar. There is a theater at Pixar and he got me in to see a movie before it was released. As the movie wound to what I thought was the end, I started to get up, but Staphon grabbed my arm and sat me down. The important part was just beginning–the credits. The theater was packed with Pixar people and the names of their friends and co-workers were beginning to roll. We sat to the very end.

Lest we think Paul is merely writing Romans as a treatise on theology, building this great religion called Christianity, this last chapter grounds us in reality and reminds us what is vitally important. This is about real people who live in real community with each other and follow a very real Savior, Jesus Christ. 

I go to church and I know the names of all sixty-six books of the Bible. God would be happier if I knew the name of the person sitting next to me. 

Paul knows who these people are and what they have done. He knows their role in the church and their service to God. Paul does not see the church as an organized religion, but as a community of people saved by Jesus Christ and in love with one another. Paul knows their names, and so does God. Every last one of them.

Daily Prayer

Father, I love You and worship You. And You love me. You love people. God, help me love better what You love most. 

Change my heart, God, and teach me to love well, to serve all, to follow the example of Your Son and live a life of compassion, to sacrifice my life for the sake of others.

Amen

Daily Question

Jesus said the greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and mind and strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself. Is one more important than the other? Why or why not?

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True Love

Daily Reading

Jeremiah 18-22

Daily Thought

God makes as a condition of Judah’s judgment their goodness to others, that they will treat well those who are lost, harmed, poor, and abused. “Thus says the Lord: ‘Do justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed. And do no wrong or violence to the resident alien, the fatherless, and the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place’” (Jeremiah 22:3). Yet later, when asked why they are being judged, the answer is, “Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord their God and worshiped other gods and served them” (Jeremiah 22:9). So, which is it that brings judgment against Judah, their indifference toward others or their idolatry against God?

Jesus was asked which commandment is greatest. He said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment.” But he wasn’t finished, “And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:37-39). Two commandments, together the greatest, essential to each other, neither stands alone. Indifference is idolatry; compassion is worship.

“The righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’” ~Matthew 25:37-40

Our love for God is only as true as it is displayed in our love for others, and our love for others is only as true as our devotion to God and his ways. 

Daily Prayer

Wonderful God, I am learning to love You better by learning to love others more. You are teaching me humility and service by doing it Yourself first. I would not know You unless You had sacrificed Yourself for me; You loved me that much. May I love that much.

I cannot worship my Creator without caring for those You created, those who bear Your very image. May I love actively, seeking opportunities to serve and to share. May others find You in my actions toward them, recognizing Your grace and goodness in all I do.

Amen