Log In | Register
As I continue to grow in Christ I see more and more of Him and less and less of the old me. I'm so very thankful for that, I have no doubt about God's Love and His ability to change a persons life for the better. I remember being like many of the "conservatives" whose comments and articles I read. Convinced that my behavior and religious/political beliefs were going to save me, that Christ somehow needed my help to do what needed to be done. I have come to know Him personally instead of just as the literary figure in The Holy Bible.
I think many people believe that Jesus Christ is who He says He is. I also think that they believe all they have to do is believe it for them to be saved. This may upset some people but even the demons believed He is the Son of God, they said so, and begged Him not to send them to their place before their time. Jesus Christ said unless one is born again in Him we cannot come to The Father, that He alone is The Way. Not Him and works of the flesh to earn salvation, for Salvation was given by God through His Son Jesus Christ on The Cross. Not Him and other beliefs that make Him less than God and make others who were spoken into being by Him able to do what only He is able to do.
In Matthew 22:34-40 Jesus Christ is asked by the Pharisees which is the great commandment- they were trying to test Him- and He answers with answer that says what we must do in order to follow Him.
34 But when the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. 35 Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, 36 "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?" 37 Jesus said to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets."
Lets explore the commandments given by Jesus Christ and see how we come to Him through them. First, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. If we love the Lord our God as Jesus Christ commands us we automatically love Him, for He is The Son in the Triunity of God, we will then also love The Holy Spirit and be aware of the leading of The Holy Spirit, We will love The Father for He sent His Son for our redemption. We will know that we are loved by Him and will accept- desire Him above all else- for we know that He is our GOD.
We will bow down to Him alone and not be swayed by the things of this world. We will understand that His Way is the only way to life with Him and that life without Him is not life at all. It is a series of events that lead to our death. Our hearts, our souls, our minds are fixed on Him and what He wants for us, is what we want from Him, eternal life with Him in His perfection not our fallen state of corruption. We don't achieve that by seeking the riches of this world while ignoring the plights of our neighbors. We don't do that by giving in to the desires of the flesh and making others our slaves for our gain. We don't do that by killing others to take what is given to them by God our Father- their lives and opportunities to serve Him- so that we try to force them to bow to our beliefs instead of theirs.
We do this by the second commandment: You shall love your neighbor as you love yourselves.
Which of us wishes for our neighbor to force us to believe as they do ?? Which of us wishes for our neighbor to destroy the land and water for their gain ?? Which of us wishes to make our neighbor more poor and needy for our personal gain ?? Which of us wishes to enslave our neighbors for labor we do not wish to perform ourselves in order for us to have an easy life while they suffer ?? Who among us wishes to be more concerned with our neighbors sexual activity instead of taking care to be respectful in your own sexual deeds ?? Who among us covets what their neighbor has, whether it be more money, a new car, a beautiful wife, a better job, a fancy home, fame, ... ??
Are these the acts of loving our neighbor as we love ourselves ?? Certainly not. But why is it important to love our neighbors as we love ourselves ?? Because they to are the Created beings of God and He loves them just as He loves us. Jesus Christ died for them just as He died for us. So we are not serving God if we mistreat and make His Creation less in our eyes than they are in His.
Don't be a conservative with your love, while liberal with your judgement and love only those whom you approve of, you are not God. Be liberal with your love and conservative with your judgement. Remember that God judges all those outside of the Church, not us. We love people and bring His fruit of love and forgiveness. Those in the Church are held responsible by their brothers and are loving guided in Christs Way, not beaten up with The Bible which is the word of God- not our word, but His Word- and is able to rightly divide right from wrong.
Loving our neighbor means allowing them to see the love of God work through us. It doesn't mean enabling them to be lazy and not work, nor does it mean taking advantage of them to make them work for less than is needed to live. Loving our neighbor isn't just loving your next door neighbor. In the world today we are all neighbors because the world has become accessible within hours instead of days months or years. So we cannot allow our neighbors to die while we have plenty, nor can we allow any religion to stop people from being free to believe as they will. Whether they be Christianity, Catholicism, Jewish, Muslin, Hindu, ... Our neighbors have the right to believe as they will just as we do.
Conservatism, liberalism, communism, fascism, capitalism, socialism ... none of them are the answer. Because they address the symptoms and not the problems, by addressing only the symptons they create more problems. The answer is loving God and our neighbors in that order. We haven't and the world is becoming worse by the day.
This is shared in His Love and is not meant to condemn. It is to allow people to see His Way and to think about why we continue to fail by doing it our way.
As always your comments and thoughts are welcome, if we disagree that is fine. Please just be respectful of your fellow Viners.
