Love Fulfills the Greatest Commandment
OPENING PRAYER:
Lord, help me discover how to love my neighbor as myself. Amen
READ:
“If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right. But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers.” James 2:8-9 NIV
““Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: ‘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 it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”” Matthew 22:36-40 NIV
“Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”” John 14:19-21 NIV
REFLECT:
How many of us fail to fully put the “Royal Law” into operation because we either love ourselves too much or too little. In order to love our neighbor as ourselves we must have a right relationship with God. 2 Peter 1:3-7 gives us guidance on how we can have the kind of relationship with God we need to love our neighbor as ourselves:
[3] By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. [4] And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world's corruption caused by human desires. [5] In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God's promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, [6] and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, [7] and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone. (NLT)
Based on these steps, how are you growing in brotherly affection for everyone?
APPLY:
The Life Application Bible states, “These actions do not come automatically; they require dedication and discipline…. We do not finish one and then start the next, but we work on them all together and with each other’s help. God empowers and enables us, but he also gives us the responsibility to learn and grow.” Who in your life, in your sphere of influence, is God directing you to love and what will you do to be obedient to loving them in the next few days?
CLOSING PRAYER:
God, help me develop the dedication and discipline I need to love others and specifically the person or persons you are directing me to. Amen
WORSHIP: