Mark 12:30-31 says ” Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, and whith all of your mind, and with all of your strength; and love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these (New International Version)
A few years ago ( circa 2005 summer) I was helping the youth director at my church repaint the youth room, and above the sole entrance and exit I paintedthose words in nicely crafted bubble letters. However, at the time I painted those, the concept of love was lost on me. A few months ago I was having a serious conversation with a friend about what it means to be a Christian, or Christ Follower. The two of us drew on the past experiences we had being forced to go to church whether we wanted to or not, and being forced into christian education even though the educations we received were subpar. During the course of the conversation those words that I painted over the doors of the old youth room at Lake Carroll Baptist Church in Tampa, Fl came to my head. The crux of what it means to be a follower of Christ is to actively, ACTIVELY, love God, and Actively, ACTIVELY love people. The scripture says there is no greater commands than these. Somewhere along the line, I had forgotten those words, and what it means to love people. In a sense, I still don’t know what it means to Actively love people, and can only be characterized as passively loving people (and even that is a gracious stretch). I picked up a copy of the irresistable revolution and there are some legitimate things in there about actively loving people that are helpful and practical. I haven’t finished reading it yet, so I can’t yet pass judgement on the remaining part of it. In his book Shane Claiborne menitons that one thing he learned about how to actively love people is that if you are going to be pro-life, then you better be ready to help some mothers out financially. I thought that was a great point, because all too often Christians are hypocritical when they take a pro-life stance, but take a stance against helping the poor. Love your neighbor and help the poor (James 1:27). As a christian, I myself, and others need to start authentically loving people consitantly. What would it look like if all the people who attended your church started loving one another instead of backbiting and fighting? Think about how much more effective we would be if we lived out the gospel we that we preach.
Love yourself, and your neighbor today,
but ultimately Love God, and Follow Jesus
2 Comments
January 19, 2009 at 2:03 pm
what up mike…like the post. good thoughts. thanks for the encouragement via blogworld from across the sea.
February 8, 2009 at 7:42 pm
I read your blog because of the link to Cedarville. I find your comment about what a Christian should do in love and love those in this world around us a good understanding of what our Christian walk should be. Your ideas are good though your eloquence is lacking. I continued to read more of your blogs and came to the conclusion the author of your other post must not be familiar the author of this one. Too bad, the other post are cynical and represent the name of Christ quite poorly. It is a shame that these post could be interpreted as Christian or what Christians represent, I believe this type of writing is why too many see Christians as hate mongers and hypocrites. I hope to see more of the blogging that was done by the author of the “The Golden Rule” than the other comments that are posted here as well.