Who is it all for?
I will not ever apologize for expressing my beliefs and thoughts. I will, however, clarify the motivation and intent behind those expressions of thought.I have strong beliefs, built upon observations, study and pretty reasonable (IMHO) inferences of the world cultures, history, and the world around us. And yet those beliefs are not intended to be separating and dividing walls, but a means to communicate the very concepts and ideas that should be connecting and unifying us. Almost all of them boil down to these two ideals:
1) We are here to bring honor and glory to the one we worship, NOT ourselves.
2) We ARE here to serve others, NOT ourselves.
For example, for some, what you worship is an ideal. Whether that ideal is world peace, equality, or knowledge. You strive to bring clarity and understanding to those ideals in order that people respect (honor) those ideals and come to know (glory) & live by them (honor). Additionally, by doing so, we are serving the people we are teaching and treating them as equals or persons who are capable of becoming equals under these ideals.
Realize that is is a secular, or “nonreligious” interpretation of a Biblical concept. None the less, it is an application of truth that all should understand. For my family and myself, our ideal is in what and whom we worship. And what we worship is God. Who we worship is more specifically, as Pastor Phil would say: “the man who predicted his death, and lived to tell about it”, Yeshua* (Jesus) of Nazareth.
At this point this rant / sermon can go down multiple paths. I can go on about defining our “gods” and our methods of tending to this conflict of ideals or I can discussing the blessings of being a peace makers. But then we would be missing the point.
But did you get the overall theme of those two ideals? Not Ourselves. This should truly be the unifying theme, but it almost always is not. It becomes a dividing theme for so many of us. For many, my view of God, and your view of “truth” can’t do anything but clash. Even I fail these ideals for the same reason I fail to please God. Pure, simple pride. I want to be more important than I am and more important than the ideals I am trying to share. In the moment, I become more concerned with being correct and superior to my perceived foe, than I am with serving another and by serving another bringing the glory to my God.
But then sometimes I, as do some of you, see beyond the division and come together as people to perform tasks for the greater good. We do projects for “Habitats for Humanity”, or feeding the poor, or being a mentor to a wayward youth. As people, cohabitants of this universe, even though it is against our basic, instinctive nature, we should be working on the before mentioned theme. Not for Ourselves.
If you are not a believer, you might call it synergy, survival of the species, or harmony with others. You may even tune me out as one of the “happy hippy” people.
But as believers, WE, my brothers and sisters in Christ, are called to a specific standards. Those two ideals come directly from the words of Jesus. He tells us to Love God above everything, and second only to that rule, is to show love to others. He tells us to consider the wellbeing of others AS IMPORTANT as surviving. This radical statement is so important, it is recorded no less than three times. (Matt 22:37 , Mark 12:30, Luke 10:27). In in at least two of those accounts, Jesus tells us that these are the most important commandments. Why? Because every other directive, given to us by God, equates, or falls under those two statements. (Matt 22:36-40 , Mark 12:28-33)
“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)
And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?”
Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
And the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher. You have truly said that he is one, and there is no other besides him. And to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” – Mark 12:28-33 (ESV)
So if these are truly the most critical of commandments, as spoken by our God, how can we possibly accomplish these tasks?
That is what I will be talking about in the next few posts. I will elaborate on some of the actions and expressions that Jesus teaches us in scripture over the next few weeks.
Thanks for reading. God bless you.
May Jesus have His way with your day
He is Founder and consultant for Tek Management,
Founder of the Men’s Leadership site: CalebStrong.org,
Co-Founder of the online Bible study app: BibleCounts
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