Do you love your neighbor?

Matthew 22:37-39
Love the Lord you 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.

Christianity is supposed to be simple. When asked about commandments Jesus responded with today's verse. Then he added that ALL the law is fulfilled in these two commandments.

That's simple. No complex rituals and traditions, no checklists of religious activities you MUST do to be in good graces. It means that you simply love your God and love your neighbor unconditionally.

So that should provoke us to think: if we really loved our neighbor, then we would not look at someone who is different than us with disdain, anger or hate.

Your gay neighbor is one of God's children who has the same measure of grace bestowed upon them (unlimited) as you do. In the same token, your redneck neighbor is one of God's children who also has the same measure of grace as you do.

God loves Democrats and Republicans equally, liberals and conservatives as well. He loves the pastor who has been dillingently serving his church for 30 years as he loves the drunk adulterous man who just walked into the church asking for help.

This is hard for a lot of people. You see, we are proud of our accomplishments. We don't have much patience and understanding for the neighbor that seems to be irresponsible and can't keep up with credit problems. We don't seem to be able to put ourselves in the same realm or world as the octo mom.

But God is clear, he is no respector of human abilities or status (Acts 10:34). In reality, we all fall short of his glory (Rom 3:23). Despite this, he sent his son to boldly declare his love for all of us.

For this reason, Jesus commanded us to be the same way, to love all ALL neighbors regardless of who we think they are.






Bo Lora
210-259-3020
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