Good Morning Friends,
A religious lawyer came to Jesus with a
question: "Teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit
eternal life?" (Luke 10:25)
It is a very good question. What do you think
the lawyer expected Jesus to say? Jesus didn’t answer directly, but instead He
turned the question back to the lawyer and asked him what he thought the Law
said was necessary for eternal life.
The lawyer gave the right answer and it was
summed up two fundamental laws:
Love God completely -- “Love the Lord your God
with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with
all your mind.”
Love your neighbor wholeheartedly -- “Love your
neighbor as yourself.” (Luke 10:27)
Of course, Jesus didn’t allow the lawyer to get
all smug because he had answered correctly and He didn’t allow the lawyer to
think that he could actually keep those laws well enough to satisfy God. Jesus
followed up with one of the most famous of His stories … the Good Samaritan.
The bottom-line of what Jesus was trying to
teach the lawyer is the same lesson that He has tried over and over to teach to
every audience who heard Him. The lesson is – none of us can keep the law well
enough to gain eternal life by it.
We aren’t capable of loving God completely.
There is always some aspect of our heart, mind or life that we hold back from
God. We may not want to hold back – but we all do. Our self-centeredness gets
in the way.
We aren’t capable of loving our neighbors as
ourselves. Our love of self is inborn and try as hard as we can, we can’t stop
loving ourselves. Love for others is not inborn and every bit of loving others
requires intentionality and self-discipline. We all can manage that for a time
– in spurts – but not all the time. That’s just beyond our capability.
Where does that leave us? Exactly where Jesus
wants us to be – pleading with God for His grace and mercy. Grace and mercy –
those are the only real path to eternal life.
His, by Grace, Steve
No comments:
Post a Comment