The Bible, as we all know contains God's law, precepts, commandments
and injunctions, which He requires His own to obey.
However, according to our Lord Jesus; all of God's commandment is
embedded in 'LOVE', thus making it the greatest of all commandment.
"YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL
YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND".This is the first and greatest
commandment:
And the second is like unto it:
"YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOUR AS YOURSELF".
On these two commandments hang(are embedded) all the law and the
prophet(matt.22:40).
Christ, as we all know, approached spiritual issues in a far-reaching
manner(as opposed to the old covenant's approach). He was not
superficial, rather His words were deep:
He taught us to deal with lustful looking, in order to avoid
adultery(matt.5:27-28).
He taught us to overcome anger, so as to avoid murder(matt.5:21-22).
And now, He is telling us that, If we want to successfully obey God's
commandments and live a sin-free life, we need to develop sincere
love,respect and fear for God.
If we Love,respect and have the fear of God in us, we wouldn't want to
annoy Him by our thoughts and actions.
In the same vein, If we genuinely love, appreciate and respect our
neighboours, we wouldn't want to hurt them.
- we wouldn't want to lie to them(or decieve them).
- we wouldn't want to defile them immorally.
-we wouldn't want to steal their belongings.
Can you see how sincere Love for God and our neighbours helps us curb
the incedence of sin.
'And this is Love, that we walk after his commandments...'(2John1:6).
'For this is the Love of God, that we keep his commandments'(1John5:3).
Our sincere love for God and others helps us to keep God's commandments.
LOVE WITHOUT PREFERENCE AND PARTIALITY
'For If ye love them which love you, what reward have ye?...'(matt5:46).
'But I say unto you, Love your enemies,bless them that curse you, do
good to them that hate you and pray for them which dispitefully use
you and persecute you'(matt.5:44).
'And ye have respect to him that wears a gay(a brightly coloured)
clothing and say unto him, sit thou here in a good place, and say to
the poor, stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool.
Are ye not then partial in yourselves...'(James2:3-4).
Our brotherly love for others should be without preference and
discrimination, irrespective of who they are, what they represent and
what they've done to us. Whether sinners or saints, friends or
foe(enemies), insiders or strangers, we should love sincerely.
LOVE FOR THE BODY AND SOUL OF OTHERS
'Finally, be you all of one mind, HAVING COMPASSION, one of another,
love as brethren, BE PITIFUL, BE COURTEOUS'(1Peter3:8).
As disciples of Christ, we are expected to show compassion,
consideration and pity to others, not only to those who are destitute
of material necessities, but also we should be moved with compassion
and reach out to those who are dead in sin, seeing the state, fate,
and destination of their never-dying soul, by preaching, teaching and
admonishing them, showing them the way to Salvation and holyliving.
'BEAR YE ONE ANOTHER'S BURDEN(both material and spiritual) SO FULFILL
THE LAW OF CHRIST(Gal.6:2).
LOVE, WITHOUT LUST
'Now the end of the commandment is charity(brotherly Love) OUT OF A
PURE HEART, and of a GOOD CONSCIENCE,and of faith
unfeigned'(1Tim.1:5).
Charity,Christian Love, agape Love, brotherly Love is always borne out
of pure motives and intentions, with no ulterior motive.
It is principled, ethical and virtuous(we can find the qualities of
charity in 1Cor.13:1-13).
As a christian brother, you relate to a sister and buy her gifts, with
a latent intention to have carnal knowledge of her and you call that
Love?
You profess you Love your neighbour, while you have a hidden intention
to defraud and rip him off his valuables.
Charity(genuine Love) does not exploit, abuse, take advantage of, or
treat unfairly in the quest to gratify it's desires(as this is an
evident, quality of Lust). Lust exploits and takes advantage of others
but Love makes sacrifice and does not decieve to gain.
'SEE THAT YE LOVE ONE ANOTHER WITH A PURE HEART
FERVENTLY'(1Peter1:22). It requires a pure heart to love
sincerely(with no traces of Lust).
If you are not saved and sanctified you can't love sincerely.
Therefore as a sinner:
1. Admit your sins, repent and confess them, ask for forgiveness and
believe in your heart that Jesus died and rose for the remission of
your sins.
2. Ask God constantly in prayers to sanctify your heart so that you
can love sincerely.
"AND THE LORD THY GOD WILL CIRCUMCISE THINE HEART, AND THE HEART OF
THY SEED TO LOVE THE LORD THY GOD WITH ALL THINE HEART, AND WITH ALL
THY SOUL THAT THOU MAYEST LIVE"[Duet.30:6].
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