February- The Love of God, the Love of Christ, Christian Love
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| Cecelia Lester |
“And the second is like it; ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Matthew 22:39-40 (NIV)
“The Pharisees classified all 600 laws; they tried to distinguish the more important ones from the less important ones. So one of them, ‘an expert in the law, asked Jesus to identify the most important law.”(1)
In our world today, we have times when we believe something is not important. The importance of a circumstance can vary from time to time as we age. What is uppermost in the mind of a teenager is to be with their friends or going to the sports event that is currently in season. A young girl who believes she is in love thinks it’s more important to be with her beau than with her family.
Jesus tells us that we are to love our neighbor as much as we do ourselves. In these times, we might not even know our neighbors. Or we may know their names and maybe their occupation but not much more.
In our fast-paced world, we forget the importance of taking the time to talk to those living around us. A friend got excited about having new neighbors on her block. This was a woman who had, as a teen, been involved in our old church. The new neighbor’s son caused issues in the area. I believe my friend prays for this new neighbor in spite of the issues caused by the son.
As I typed the end of the preceding paragraph, I felt conviction come over me because I have not done the same in similar instances in the past. However, I can start this practice today.
Yesterday was Valentine's Day. On Monday, Hubby went out to do some errands and came back with this bouquet of roses and two bags of Lindors White Chocolate Truffles for me. I was excited.
1. Life Application Bible Tyndale House/ Zondervan Publishing Wheaton, Illinois/ Grand Rapids Michigan. © 1991 page 1700
This is so true. We're so often focused on getting things done and whatnot that we overlook how important this is. Thanks so much for this reminder, Cecelia! :)
ReplyDeleteKaren: Thank you for your kind comment. We have a situation that has me in a quandary of 'what to do.' Please pray for me,as I try to do the right thing. It involves our next door neighbor.
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