Jesus said to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Matthew 22:37-39 (NKJV) Every relationship that we encounter in this life and our attitude towards them is a direct reflection of the relationship that we have with God. Jesus quotation taken from Deuteronomy 6:4-5 is in response to a questioned posed to Him in regarding the greatest commandment in the law. Jesus chooses two well-known and all-encompassing commandments to demonstrate that all of the Ten Commandments and the laws of the prophets were subject to them. These two commandments are basic, and they touch all of lifes relationships. They are the standards or benchmarks if you will of how we are to prioritize and function in our relationship with God, our neighbors, and ourselves. Every healthy and functional relationship must first begin in the context of the proper relationship with God. Jesus says that our love for God must be with every fiber of our being and that absolutely nothing is to be preferred before Him. Love it this particular context is the agape love or the unconditional love that has no limitations and creates no boundaries. Our love for God is demonstrated when we accept His son Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. It is virtually impossible to love God and not be in relationship with His son. The second part of the commandment is that we love our neighbor in the manner in which we love ourselves. This commandment is only second in order of Jesus statement but in reality it is equal in importance and priority to the first. A healthy relationship with God will develop into a healthy relationship with our neighbor. Neighbor is best defined as one who is near or close by, or our fellow human being. The quality of the relationship that we have with our neighbor is measured proportionately by the love that we bring to bear in our relationship with God. If someone says, I love God, and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God who he has not seen? I John 4:20 (NKJV) While loving our neighbor is predicated on the love we have for God, it emanates from the love that we have for ourselves. We must have a functional relationship with who we are as individuals in order to be able to demonstrate the love of God in our relationships with others. This self love is not pride, arrogance, or being judgmental in our attitude towards our neighbor. It is a result of a wholesome level of self-esteem that rejects feelings of insecurity and inadequacy. Hurts have been healed and we refuse to harbor hatred or resentment from lifes experiences and hold anyone that may cross our path as being responsible. The breakdown of any earthly relationship could possibly suggest that there be a self-evaluation of our relationship with God. Since He hasnt changed there could be the distinct possibility that we are walking in darkness and infecting everyone around us. But he who hates his brother is in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes. I John 2:11 (NKJV)
Posted on: Fri, 29 Nov 2013 10:38:19 +0000
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