How to Inherit Eternal Life, part 20: How we love ourselves

Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the robbers' hands? " And he said, "The one who showed mercy toward him." Then Jesus said to him, "Go and do the same." (Luke 10:36-37 NASB)

"Go and do the same," Jesus told the lawyer. The original question was, "What do I do to inherit eternal life." Jesus asked him, "What does the law say?" and the man replied, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and your neighbor as yourself." Jesus affirmed his answer. "Do this and you will live." Not content, the lawyer said, "But who is my neighbor?" In response, Jesus told the story of the kind Samaritan. "Which of the three people was a neighbor to the man?" Of course, the only answer the lawyer could give was that the one who showed kindness to the wounded man was the one who loved his neighbor. "You go and do the same," Jesus told him.

It's His command for us, too. "God and do the same." We are not only to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, but we are to love our neighbor as ourselves. This loving our neighbor goes hand in hand with loving our God. In fact, they are inseparable. In a way, loving our neighbor is an outward demonstration of our inward love for our God. 

If we are to love our neighbor as ourselves, in the way of the Samaritan, what does that mean for our lives? Perhaps we would do well to see the ways in which we love ourselves. We provide food, shelter, clothing, entertainment, travel, and luxuries, both in our homes and personally, for ourselves. We (myself included) have housing that is not just sufficient but is extravagant. The average new home size in China is 646 sq ft, Hong Kong 484 sq ft, United Kingdom 818 sq ft, Sweden 893 sq ft, France 1206 sq ft, and that square footage is sufficient for a family, not just a single person. The average new home size in the United States is 2,164 sq ft. (You can read more about this here.) 

In addition to housing, we provide food for ourselves. I really prefer home grown, organic food with a nice variety. The average daily calorie consumption in the US is 3,770 calories per day, in Nigeria 2710 per day, in the Congo 1590. (Read more here and here) 

There is also the issue of clothing. I have a friend who drastically limits the number of clothes in her closet. She buys a few new things every season and gives away something from her closet every time she buys something new. I, on the other hand, have what is probably an outrageous number of clothes in my closets. That there are children around the world who are cold in the winter is unconscionable.

There are two articles on poverty that you would do well to read. The first gives data on poverty in the US, the second gives data on poverty worldwide. I think they will be eyeopening for you. 

We live in a tremendously affluent nation. Even the poorest among us still have wealth in comparison with much of the world today. If we loved our neighbor as we love ourselves, with the same measure, with the same generosity that we loved ourselves, this would not be. 

Only God can tell you what your response to loving your neighbor should be, but perhaps we would do well to love ourselves a little less well and love our neighbors a little more. The problem, it appears, is that, though we may love our neighbors a bit, we do not love our neighbors as much as we love ourselves. 

I read the words of Christ and cringe. He did not tell us to love our neighbor a little bit, to love them when we feel like it, or to love ourselves much more than we love our neighbors. He said to love our neighbors as (in the same way) that we love ourselves. How much, in what ways, do we demonstrate our love for ourselves? How much, in what ways, do we demonstrate our love for our neighbors in need? 

If the way we love our neighbor is a reflection of how we love our God, what does the way that we love our neighbors say about how much we love the Lord our God?

And he answered, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.  Go and do the same." (Luke 10:27,37 NASB)

How to inherit eternal life, part 17: More on the Samaritans

But a Samaritan, who was on a journey, came upon him; and when he saw him, he felt compassion, and came to him and bandaged up his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them; and he put him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn and took care of him. On the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper and said, 'Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I return I will repay you.' (Luke 10:33-35 NASB)

Understanding how a problem developed helps us understand the reference to it, so, in the previous post, we began a look at how the problem with the Samaritans developed. You can click on this link . 

Because of Solomon's unrepentant rebellion and idol worship, God "tore" the kingdom from him, promising ten tribes to Jeroboam. All he had to do was wait, listen, and obey. He was excited about this, as we probably would have been, and he obviously told some people about the prophecy and began to make a conspiracy to make himself  the king, because word got back to Solomon, who tried to kill him. He fled to Egypt to avoid assassination, and stayed there until Solomon died and Rehoboam became king in his father's place. 

When Jeroboam heard the news, he hurried back from Egypt, leading all the people to beg Rehoboam to ease the severe treatment of the citizens by his father. Rehoboam laughed. "Ha. You think my daddy was bad. I'm going to be tougher than my daddy ever was!" Those words were all the people needed to justify rebellion, and the ten tribes rejected Rehoboam as king, split the nation, and made Jeroboam king over those who rebelled. The new nation was called the Northern Kingdom and Judah became known as the Southern Kingdom. Jeroboam established his capital in Shechem in the region of Samaria, but the capital was later moved to the city of Samaria. 

As you might expect, there was a great rivalry because those who were in the Southern Kingdom felt that they had an edge on the basis of the lineage of King David. Those in the Northern Kingdom felt that they had an edge because God had torn the kingdom from Solomon and his descendants. All Jeroboam had to do to gain a lasting kingdom was to wait, listen, and obey, but he quickly proved that he would not do what God had said. 

Jeroboam was afraid of losing his newly-gained kingdom because of the need to go to the temple in Jerusalem to offer sacrifices. He feared that, in going to Jerusalem to the temple, the people's hearts would soften and they would return to the house of David. Rather than ask God what to do, he made a solution of his own. In an unbelievable turn of events, Jeroboam instituted the very behavior that had caused Solomon to lose the kingdom. Jeroboam set up two golden calves and announced that these golden calves were the gods that had brought the people out of Egypt. To make matters even worse, the people followed his leadership and began to worship those despicable golden calves. Things quickly went from bad to worse, and soon they were a nation filled with idolatry. Two centuries later, they were carried into captivity by the Assyrians, which was essentially the end of the Northern Kingdom. 

Jerusalem and the temple were located within the Southern Kingdom. Despite the sin of the Southern Kingdom, they generally made at least a show of worship in the temple, in contrast to the open idolatry of the Northern Kingdom. Because the Southern Kingdom was basically just the tribe of Judah, these people began to be called Jews. The Northern Kingdom was situated in the area of Samaria and the capital of the Northern Kingdom was the city of Samaria. These people, from the ten tribes, began to be called the Samaritans.

We will look once more at the rivalry between the Jews and the Samaritans in the next post, but for today, let us ponder what happens when we act without consulting God. Rehoboam tried to prove himself by being tough and lost a kingdom. Jeroboam tried to save himself by making his own brand of religion, and ended up losing his kingdom, as well. Both lost the legacy God offered them because of their rebellion. How heartbreaking is that? 

Dear ones, God is serious about obedience and generously rewards us when we obey. He is also serious about disobedience. (For more on this see Deuteronomy 11:13-15, 26-28, 30:1-20.) His instructions in Deuteronomy 30, had they been heeded, could have saved the kingdom, and we would do well to take note of them today. God gives us a choice, with blessings on one side and discipline on the other. The choice is ours. Let us consider carefully the life we want, and choose well. Our life and the legacy we leave behind depends upon it.

"I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, by loving the LORD your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days, that you may live in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them." (Deuteronomy 30:19-20 NASB)

How to inherit eternal life, part 16: How the Samaritans came to be

But a Samaritan, who was on a journey, came upon him; and when he saw him, he felt compassion, and came to him and bandaged up his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them; and he put him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn and took care of him. On the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper and said, 'Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I return I will repay you.' (Luke 10:33-35 NASB)

Today, we are looking at the difficulty between the Jews and the Samaritans. It turns out that the problems between the Jews and the Samaritans were not at all what I had thought. 

The problem began during Solomon's reign. He had taken numerous foreign wives and they "turned his heart away" from the Lord. (1 Kings 11:1-13) When he began to build altars on the high places and worship idols, God appeared to Solomon again and basically told him, "I've already told you not to worship any God except Me, and I cannot let this go." God told Solomon that He would "tear the kingdom" from him. Because of his father, King David, who loved God with his whole heart, the discipline was softened. The kingdom would be split, but not until after his death. Because of David's love for God, two tribes would be left with Solomon's descendants. (The second tribe was insignificant and actually David's descendants would basically have only Judah.)

God moved quickly. The prophet Ahijah found Jeroboam (an industrious and upcoming soldier) on the road. Ahijah had a new cloak which he tore into twelve pieces. He told Jeroboam to take ten pieces for himself. God, he said, was giving ten tribes to Jeroboam and leaving the rest (Judah) with Solomon's descendants. Jeroboam would have to wait until after Solomon died, but if he did, and if he listened to God's commands and obeyed them, He would be with Jeroboam, give Israel to him, and establish an enduring house (lineage) as He had done for David. 

Wait. Listen. Obey.

All Jeroboam had to do was wait, listen, and obey, but Jeroboam was much like us. God had promised the throne to him, and he wanted it. Who wants to wait? We will see more of his waiting problem in the next post, but I suspect that Jeroboam began to talk (and likely brag) about what the prophet had said, because Solomon soon heard about it. King Solomon added more sin to what he had already piled up when he became enraged and tried to have Jeroboam killed. (It would have been a perfect opportunity to repent and seek God's face, but, instead, he chose more rebellion.) Jeroboam fled to Egypt and waited. 

One of the greatest sermons of the 20th century was preached by Dr. R.G. Lee and was entitled "Pay Day Someday". (My mother heard him preach this sermon, and never forgot it. She was still speaking of it, more than fifty years later, in the months before her death.) Dr. Lee was right. There will always be a pay day someday. No matter how rich or powerful we are, we will have to answer for our choices, our decisions, our sin. Even Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, had to answer for his idolatry and his disobedience, and the price was tremendous. His disobedience not only devastated the lives of his descendants, but also ripped a nation into shreds. 

It is easy to think that Solomon had "bigger" sins than we have, or "more" sins, or was disciplined because he was "more visible", but that is not born out by Scripture. Solomon refused to obey and God disciplined him. He was not the only one who was worshiping at the high places. He was not the only one who worshipped idols. He was not the only one disciplined. He is simply the one we read about. God always responds to sin. He always responds to rebellion. It is as simple as that, and should serve as a strong warning to us. 

We would do well to heed the instructions that the prophet gave to Jeroboam if we want to avoid the discipline of the Lord. Wait. Listen. Obey. What joy, what peace, what blessings we would find if we would only wait, listen, and obey. Dear ones, resolve to do that very thing. Be still and know that He is God, then live as if you believe it. 

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The "Pay Day Someday" sermon is worth reading. Click here to read it. 

How to inherit eternal life, part 14: Walking past the need

Jesus replied and said, "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among robbers, and they stripped him and beat him, and went away leaving him half dead. And by chance a priest was going down on that road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. Likewise a Levite also, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. (Luke 10:30-32 NASB) 

In the previous post, we looked at the city of Jericho. (click on the link to read that post in a new window) 

The word translated here as "going down" is katabainō and means "to descend". As we saw in the previous post, there is a significant difference in altitude between Jerusalem and Jericho, so that a traveler literally "descends" when he travels from Jerusalem to Jericho. There have been some who suggested that the priest did not want to be defiled because of his duties as the priest, but he was clearly traveling katabainō, descending, which makes it obvious that he was traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho and away from the temple, just as the wounded man had been doing. That fact suggests that the priest had completed his priestly duties, performed in Jerusalem, and was heading to Jericho, possibly for the night. Matthew Henry references a historian (Lightfoot) who says that many of the priests lived in Jericho. If so, perhaps he was going home for the night.

Let's think for a moment about the position of priest. It was a highly visible leadership position. People would have looked to him, expected obedience to God from Him, and taken guidance from the priest's behavior. He was to set the example for righteousness because it was the job of priests to minister to the Lord in the temple on a continuing basis. Because of that ongoing ministry before God, one might expect them to understand something of the heart of God, the compassion of God, but apparently that was not the case in this particular priest. 

Why didn't the priest stop? Either he saw the wounded man or he did not. Jesus made it very clear that he saw the injured victim. Since he knew the man had a need that was obviously going to be tremendous, why didn't he stop? There are many potential excuses. Perhaps he didn't know what to do and thought he might cause more harm than good by trying to help. Perhaps he was concerned about the ritual cleansing that would be required after caring for this man and wanted to avoid that effort. Maybe he was headed home, running late, and didn't want to be delayed. God, however, is much more concerned with compassion than ritual cleansing or delayed dinners. 

There are many potential excuses, but perhaps Martin Luther King's interpretation is the best one yet. He said that the priest, as well as the Levite, asked the wrong question. They asked, "What will happen to me if I stop?" when they should have asked, "What will happen to him if I do not stop?" MLK suggested that their fear of what would happen stopped them from helping. That may be true, and, frankly, I hope it is. Equally as likely, though, is the possibility that the reason the priest failed to stop to help the wounded man was pure selfishness. He was concerned about himself and not the man lying, half-dead, on the side of the road. He was likely concerned about the things that would be delayed by stopping, the additional trouble he would encounter by stopping, and the risk to himself by stopping. He was only concerned about himself.

It is this selfishness that prevented the priest from loving his neighbor and caring for him, and that same kind of selfishness prevents us from loving our neighbor, as well. This passage suggests that, when we see a need, Jesus expects us to meet it, not walk by on the other side. The problem, then, becomes one of meeting one need or the other, either our own selfish desire or the one in greater physical or spiritual need. 

Perhaps the appropriate response today is to look at our own actions with regard to the needs of others. How quick are we to respond with aid to those in need? How consistently do we respond to need? How generously? Would Jesus view the kind and amount of aid we give as He did the priest and the Levite or as He viewed the Samaritan? When people look to us for an example of righteousness, do they see the kind of generous, compassionate lifestyle that they would do well to emulate, or not? 

Let us resolve, then, to give like the Samaritan, who risked himself for the one in need. 

How to inherit eternal life, part 12: Who is my neighbor?

Jesus replied and said, "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among robbers, and they stripped him and beat him, and went away leaving him half dead. And by chance a priest was going down on that road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. Likewise a Levite also, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, who was on a journey, came upon him; and when he saw him, he felt compassion, and came to him and bandaged up his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them; and he put him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn and took care of him. On the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper and said, 'Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I return I will repay you.' Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the robbers' hands? " And he said, "The one who showed mercy toward him." Then Jesus said to him, "Go and do the same." (Luke 10:30-37 NASB)

"Who is my neighbor?" the expert in Mosaic law asked Jesus, who explained to him that everyone is his neighbor. This lawyer soon learned that Jesus views every single person on earth as His neighbor, and He views them as our neighbor, too, no matter how lovely or unlovely they are. (You can read about loving your neighbor as yourself and being a friend to sinners with these links in a separate tab and still keep this one open.) 

To elaborate on the answer to the lawyer's question, "Who is my neighbor?", Jesus used a story to paint a word picture of this neighbor we are to love. Take a few moments and read the Scripture above again. 

The word translated as "man" is anthrōpos. In this instance, the word means a person, but not a particular person. Jesus did not give them an indication of nationality, gender, or race. This "man" symbolized all mankind. He was any man, all men. He was me and you. He was also our worst enemy and the person we most fear. Before we go any further, we need to understand that the man who was lying, beaten and battered on the side of the road, might have been someone we would want to help, but he might not have been. This understanding matters, as we will soon see, because the word Jesus used made it clear that the identity, lifestyle, nationality, gender, or race of the person in need does not matter. 

The man had been set upon by thieves, beaten severely, and left, half-dead already, to die on the side of the road. He was in a mess and likely looked a mess. His need was tremendous, and it would not be solved by a single donation, a single handout. What he needed, more than anything, was someone who would be a friend to him, someone who would care for him. Don't mistake this "caring for him", however. This was not the kind of caring that cleans up his wounds, applies a bandage, and never sees him again. This was the kind of caring that begins in the heart and expands in the heart to such a degree that there is no rest until the need is met. The care he needed was the care that comes with commitment and extends over time, the care that comes from a heart that loves with no hope of reward or repayment.

This man, the one that can offer nothing in return, the one who was in a terrible mess and in great need, is the one Jesus chose as an example of our neighbor. This man is an example of the neighbor we are to love. Frankly, I would prefer a neighbor with less need, one who requires a shorter commitment, and less investment of time and money. Wouldn't you? 

The good news is that Jesus chose this man as His example because He views the most hopeless situation, the least lovely person as worthy of intervention. The man was half-dead. Left on the side of the road without intervention, he would be dead before long. Despite the difficulty and the severity of the man's condition, Jesus did not view his situation as impossible, nor intervention as a wasted effort. 

What we as believers often fail to remember is that we were this man before Christ redeemed us. We were headed towards eternal damnation, half-way there already, and it seemed as if there was no hope for us, yet God had compassion on us and sent His Son to redeem us. His care for us began in love and manifested itself in commitment that required everything He had to give to save us. Spiritually speaking, this man is not only every man, he is us. 

Since Christ loved us enough to redeem us from our hopeless state, should we not also love those in a similar state? Should we not also see them as our neighbor and intervene in their need? The answer is a resounding YES! Of course we should. 

We love because He first loved us.

                                                1 John 4:19

We are compelled to love our neighbor because our Lord loved us first. He showed us how, and, in this parable, He showed us whom to love. Everyone. Love all. It's not easy, but it is also not optional. Look around you. Our world is filled with people who are this man, the one who needs Jesus the most, even though he may think he needs Him the least. Our job, whether we choose to accept it or not, is to love our neighbor, so, in the name of Jesus, let's do just that. Let us love the most lovely and the least among us, and let us do it because of the great love Jesus has shown to us. 

But now faith, hope, love abide, these three; 

but the greatest of these is love. 

                                                            1 Corinthians 13:13

How to inherit eternal life, part 10: justification

But wishing to justify himself, he said to Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" (Luke 10:29 NASB)

The lawyer questioning Jesus asked how to inherit eternal life. Jesus asked Him what the law said and he condensed the heart of the law into one beautifully concise sentence. Love God with every fiber of your being and your neighbor as your self. Jesus congratulated the lawyer for His accuracy. If you do that, you will live, both now and in eternity, Jesus told him. 

The lawyer had a problem. He wanted to "justify himself." The word translated as "justify" is dikaioō and is used in this instance to indicate a desire to be declared just or righteous rather than a desire to be just or righteous. The word "declared" makes quite a difference, doesn't it? The problem with this lawyer was that he was more concerned about being thought righteous than he was about being righteous. 

If we are honest, there is likely a bit of this dikaioō in us, as well. It is much easier to appear righteous before men than to actually be righteous before God, isn't it? The difference, of course, lies in the depths of our heart, in our priorities and our goals. Which do we want more? To be righteous or to look righteous? There is a vast difference between the two and only one actually leads us to eternal life. 

We would do well to examine our motives and our priorities. Is our greatest desire to be judged as righteous by our pure and holy  God or do we simply want to look good before our fellow man? Are we seeking approval in this world or in the next? There is nothing more important than pleasing our God, nothing more critical than obedience to His Word. The path to righteousness is simple. Love God. Love your neighbor as you love yourself. The task of love, however, is the greatest challenge we will ever face. If not for the help of Almighty God, it would be impossible. What then, shall we do?

We love, because He first loved us. If someone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also. (1 John 4:19-21 NASB)

The writer of 1st John said it nicely. If you don't love your neighbor, you don't love God, either. If you want to be justified before God, you must begin by loving Him. When we love God with every fiber of our being, that love will spill over onto those around us, and it won't matter a bit how lovely they are. When the love of God flows from us, it splashes onto both the greatest and the least among us. 

If we want to look justified, we can limit our interpretation of "neighbor" to those most like us, those most convenient for ministry. If we want to be justified, however, we must do what Jesus said. Love God. Love our neighbors, even those who are the least lovely. Love all. 

How to inherit eternal life, part 7: loving God with all your strength

And a lawyer stood up and put Him to the test, saying, "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" And He said to him, "What is written in the Law? How does it read to you?" And he answered, "YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND; AND YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF." And He said to him, "You have answered correctly; DO THIS AND YOU WILL LIVE." (Luke 10:25-28 NASB)

We are continuing our study on how to inherit eternal life by loving God. In previous posts, we looked at how to love God with all our heart and with all our soul. Today, we look at how to love God with all our strength.

The word translated as "strength" is ischys and literally means "ability". (BLB) To love God with all our strength, then, is to love Him with the best of our ability. When we do the very best we can at loving God, we have done enough. There is no need to love God the way someone else does. God does not measure the way we love Him by the preacher, the Sunday School teacher, or the most saintly person we know. He does not measure our love for God by how the saints and martyrs loved Him. God simply asks for us to love Him to the very best of our ability. How incredible is that? It is not too hard. It is not impossible. We are simply to love Him with the strength, the ability that He has placed in us. 

Jesus gave His life for us when He loved us with all His strength. Loving Him back with all our strength can be costly, but it will not be too hard for us to do. Just to be clear, this is not a whining, sniveling, "I did the best I could" excuse, kind of love. Remember that we are also called to love God with all our heart, all our soul, and all our mind. Don't lose sight of the fact that we are to love Him to the very best of our ability. The wonderful truth, however, is that, when we love Him with every fiber of our being, the best we can, it is enough.

Enough. Isn't that a beautiful word? Loving God is not too hard to do. We can love Him with all our strength (all our ability) and trust Him to increase our ability. We can love Him in this way, but the question that remains is "Will we?" Will we love Him the very best we can? Oh, dear ones, it is easier than you might think and more important that you can imagine.

Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails;...

But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love. (1 Corinthians 13:4-8, 13 NASB)

How to inherit eternal life, part 6: loving God with our soul

And a lawyer stood up and put Him to the test, saying, "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" And He said to him, "What is written in the Law? How does it read to you?" And he answered, "YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND; AND YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF." And He said to him, "You have answered correctly; DO THIS AND YOU WILL LIVE." (Luke 10:25-28 NASB)

In the previous post, we looked at loving the Lord with all our heart. (You can click on the link to read it.) Today, we consider loving the Lord with all our soul. 

The word translated as "soul" is psychē, and is used here to indicate "the seat of the feelings, desires, and affections". (BLB) The soul is the part of us that is eternal and cannot be destroyed. To love God with all our feelings, our desires, and our affections is not a whimsical kind of love. It requires the kind of "taking every thought captive" that Paul wrote about in 2 Corinthians 10:5. We cannot love God with feelings that are sinful, with desires that are perverse, with affections that are ungodly. Loving God requires us to take ungodly thoughts, feelings, desires, affections captive and sacrifice our desires to His. 

When we read the words of the Psalmist, we assume God will give us what we want. Look again at those words.

Delight yourself in the Lord; 

And He will give you the desires of your heart. 

Psalm 37:4 NASB

The promise is not that God will give us whatever we desire. The promise is that He will give us new desires. He will give us His desires as our own, and when He does, that seat of desire, our soul, can love Him more fully, more completely. In fact, in this place deep in our hearts, we  cannot love as we ought unless the Lord Himself places His desires in our hearts. That placing happens when we take delight in Him. As we love, He equips us to love more. 

Perhaps that sounds as if we are impotent bystanders, but nothing could be further from the truth. It is a constant work of submission to wrestle the seat of our feelings, desires, and affections into submission to God, but when we forge ahead in that work which must be done, we find a love that is greater and more complete than any other. 

We are not to be ruled by feelings; instead, we are to act our way into new feelings. Do we feel cranky and irritable? Perhaps. Instead of acting out on that irritability, however, we must, with God's help, choose love instead. By responding in love rather than reacting in irritability, we love God with our feelings. 

When we want the things of the world, we must relinquish our desire for what tantalizes and choose the things of God instead. By relinquishing our desires, we love God with our desires. It is the same with affections. Do our relationships, our affection for the things of this world help us love God more or draw us away? We must choose to place our affections on "things above", loving the things God loves, the people God loves. In loving what God loves, in loving those whom God loves, we love Him with "all our soul". This loving those whom God loves may be the hardest part, but it is worth it! When we love the unlovely, we love as God has loved us, for who could be more unlovely that we ourselves? 

Oh dear ones, all this relinquishing and submitting sounds like a dreadful job and a devastating loss, but it brings the sweetest joy imaginable. Let us not forget that it is in loving God with every fiber of our being, Christ said, that we live, both now and in eternity. It is a radical, unpopular love, but therein is life. Love Him, friends, love Him with all the feelings, desires, and affections in your heart and you will find joy immeasurable and hope overflowing.

How to inherit eternal life, part 5: Loving with our whole hearts

And a lawyer stood up and put Him to the test, saying, "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" And He said to him, "What is written in the Law? How does it read to you?" And he answered, "YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND; AND YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF." And He said to him, "You have answered correctly; DO THIS AND YOU WILL LIVE." (Luke 10:25-28 NASB)

In the previous post, we considered the issue of Lordship. Loving in the way that pleases God begins with making Him our Lord, our Master. He must be the One in charge of our destiny. The only other choice is rebellion, so  we are compelled by the hope of eternity to submit to His Lordship. We cannot have it both ways. We can not love the Lord our 
God with all our heart, soul, and strength unless He is our Lord.

We turn now to the issue of loving the Lord our God with all our heart. The word translated as "heart" is kardia and refers to the muscular organ responsible for circulating blood throughout our body. Because Scripture tells us that "the life is in the blood" (Lev. 17:11), the heart was considered the center of life, mental and moral as well as physical. 

The reference here is to something done by the heart, as in loving God by our whole hearts, and indicates sincerity and lack of pretense. (thayer) Now we begin to see, don't we? Loving the Lord our God with all our heart involves loving Him with sincerity, and without pretense. There is nothing fake about it. 

We've all seen people who talk a great line about their faith, yet their lives tell a different story. We've likely been those people at times. Loving the Lord our God with all our heart, however, requires that we relinquish our "fake" demonstrations of love and truly love Him with every fiber of our being. 

This kind of love is a 24 hour a day love, in which thoughts of the One our heart loves are never far away. This kardia love makes every decision on the basis of that love. This kardia love has as it's goal the pleasure of the One we love. Finding ways in which we can we bring delight to the Light of our life becomes our goal. That is how we love and live when we love with our whole heart. 

Loving with all our heart requires an undivided heart. There is no one, no thing, that matters more than the object of our love. Our love for God becomes the most important love in our life. There is room for other loves, of course, but God shares first priority with no one.

The heart is a muscular organ unique in its properties. As such, it can get stronger with exercise, and the exercise of love will do a wondrous work in our hearts. The most amazing outcome of loving God with our whole heart is that, as we love Him sincerely and totally, our heart gains strength for that love and we can love Him even more. What is even more remarkable is that, in loving God more, we gain a God-given ability to love others more, as well. In a sense, by loving God with our whole hearts, we become a wellspring from which the love of God can flow to all around us. 

Selah. Pause and Consider.

By relinquishing our entire hearts to our Lord, loving Him above all others, we can become a wellspring of His love, flowing to everyone around us. What a beautiful picture of the transformation that divine kardia love can produce in us!  

Is that the way you love? Is your heart undivided? Is your Lord the priority love of your life? It is only in giving all our heart to Him that we can receive this extravagant outpouring of His love through us, and it is an exchange that is not only worth making, but also the most important exchange we can make. 

Oh, dear ones, if you have not given your "whole heart" to God, do it now and begin to let His love flow through you, unhampered, undivided. Let His love be your goal. Let His love be your priority. 

How to Inherit Eternal Life, part 4: Lordship

And a lawyer stood up and put Him to the test, saying, "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" And He said to him, "What is written in the Law? How does it read to you?" And he answered, "YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND; AND YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF." And He said to him, "You have answered correctly; DO THIS AND YOU WILL LIVE." (Luke 10:25-28 NASB)

The lawyer (expert in Mosaic law) asked Jesus a simple question. "What shall I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus asked him what the law said and he responded with two verses that are the essence of the law. "Love God. Love your neighbor." Jesus replied, "Do this and you will live." The love of which the lawyer spoke is the kind of love that will lead us to abundant life in this world and eternal life in the next. This love, however, is a beautiful and all-consuming love, and we will look at the kind of love we should have for the next few days. 

You shall love the Lord Your God

What does it mean to love the Lord Your God? Let's start with the word translated as "Lord." The word here is kyrios and is used to indicate the owner of a thing (or person) or the master. The kyrios has the authority to make all decisions concerning the one owned. The term is used as a title of both respect and reverence. The kyrios is the one in charge and what he says goes. Loving God appropriately begins with understanding who He is and who we are not. Almighty God is the One in charge, not us. We must defer to Him in every decision, trusting His Will for us and our lives. 

Until we understand and submit to God as Master, Owner, Planner, and Decider of every aspect of our lives, we will not love Him as we should. The problem comes when what we want is different from what God wants, doesn't it? If we look at the example of Christ, the Suffering Servant who became the Sin Sacrifice for all mankind, we get a glimpse of the extent to which God went for us. It also gives us a glimpse of the will of God and causes us to fear incredible sacrifice of our own. We dare not hold back from the One who gave everything for us, yet we do, mostly from fear of having to submit our will to His Will. 

I struggle with this, as do we all. This business of submitting to the One who has the authority to make every decision concerning us is difficult. We put our faith in a God we cannot see to direct the circumstances of the life we can see, and how blessed we are when we do this, for it is then that we begin to see the evidence of our Lord at work in our lives. The problem, of course, is that we want to direct our own fate, despite the fact that we do a poor job of it. 

We have a choice to make, right at the start. We can submit to the Master and allow Him to BE our Master, or we can direct our own lives and live in rebellion. We cannot have it both ways. Jeremiah 29:11 promises us that the plans God has for us are good, that they will be for our good and not for evil, and that those plans will give us a future and a hope. When we understand that, when we believe that, it becomes a simple choice to allow the One with good plans to proceed. 

Dear ones, the choice is simple, but it must be made. Will we allow our God to be our Lord, or not? The time to choose is now. Loving God demands it. 

How to inherit eternal life, part 3

And a lawyer stood up and put Him to the test, saying, "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" And He said to him, "What is written in the Law? How does it read to you?" And he answered, "YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND; AND YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF." And He said to him, "You have answered correctly; DO THIS AND YOU WILL LIVE." (Luke 10:25-28 NASB)

The Jewish faith has a wealth of beautiful ritual that is highly symbolic. Even if you could not read Scripture for yourself, you could find much truth in the watching of and participating in the rituals alone. So it is for most liturgy that takes it origins in Scripture and the commands found there. There is beautiful truth stored within. 

The problem comes when the rituals and liturgies become routine. When we can repeat them as a matter of rote, we can easily lose sight of the truth they express. The Lord's Prayer is one of those sections of Scripture that has been repeated so often that we can easily lose sight of the fact that we are praying the same prayer Jesus prayed, in the same way Jesus prayed it. That is a profound thought. To do what Jesus did is incredibly hard, but in this one thing, He made it easy. With our rote, we've taken what He made easy and, in some ways, trivialized it. When we look at that passage in a fresh way, the lessons are astounding, aren't they?

The lawyer who came to Jesus mentioned a similar passage in his response to Jesus. He quoted from Deuteronomy 6. The passage begins with a commandment to listen and carefully obey all the commandments God had given, in order that "it may be well with you and that you may multiply greatly." It goes on to say that, if they were obedient, God would bless them in the place where He was giving them cities they didn't build, houses that were full of good things they didn't fill, cisterns they didn't dig, vineyards they didn't plant. They would eat and be satisfied. 

Contentment. Obedience would lead to contentment. The men in Moses' time recognized that contentment in such a place was a worthy goal and they started by doing what God said. They were to teach the law to their children, talk of it morning and night, bind it as a sign on their hand and on their forehead, and write it on the doorposts of their houses and gates, so they memorized Scripture and repeated it twice a day. They wrote it down and placed it inside mezuzahs on their doorposts. They placed it inside leather bindings around their heads. The words they recorded were these:

Hear, Oh Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one!

You shall love the Lord you God with all your heart, 

and with all your soul, and with all your might. 

(Deuteronomy 6:4-5)

The entire Shema refers to a group of Scriptures that include Deuteronomy 6:4-9, 11:13-21, and Numbers 15:37-41, and make up the prayers that are repeatedly daily. (They prayed the Scripture, a practice we do well to emulate.) There is tremendous truth in these verses and, as Jesus indicated, the entire law can be summed up in them. I've posted the Shema in a separate post (http://leannahollis.blogspot.com/2015/01/the-shema.html) for you to read. 

Why is this important? If we understand the perspective of the lawyer and that of Jesus, it becomes much easier to understand the Scripture. These men had known these verses all their lives. Jesus made it clear, however, that it was not enough to know the words of God or to speak the words of God. "Do this and you will live," He said. We must also do the words of God, as the doing is a demonstration of both our love for our God and our faith in His words. 

It's important for us to remember that Jesus "paid it all" but He still expects us to obey. It's not optional. Do this and live. 

How to Inherit Eternal Life, Part 1

And a lawyer stood up and put Him to the test, saying, "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" And He said to him, "What is written in the Law? How does it read to you?" And he answered, "Y OU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND; AND YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF." And He said to him, "You have answered correctly; DO THIS AND YOU WILL LIVE." (Luke 10:25-28 NASB)

We begin a new series today, this time on the topic of how to inherit eternal life. The opening salvo is given by a lawyer who wanted to test Jesus. To understand this passage, we need to understand to whom Jesus was speaking. The word translated as "lawyer" is nomikos and does not mean a person who helps with wills and lawsuits. This "lawyer" was a man who was an expert in Mosaic law. They had memorized the law and studied it to such a degree that they knew exactly what it said, every jot and tittle. Knowing the words of the law was not the same as knowing the heart of the law, as we shall soon see. 

I would like to believe that this lawyer, an expert in Jewish law, was there because He was truly interested in what Jesus had to say. Scripture tells us, however, that the reason this lawyer was asking Jesus a question had nothing to do with interest in eternal life. His sole reason for coming to Jesus was to trap Him. He was "putting Him to the test" in hopes that He could trick Jesus into saying something that would contradict the law (bringing him into direct conflict with the Jewish officials) or alienate the masses. 

He asked a question we all should ask. "What do we need to do in this life to have eternal life in the next?" The question was a good one. The motivation behind it was not. Perhaps the best way to start this series is by taking a look at our own motivation for approaching Jesus. Let's look not only at why we approach Jesus, but at why we are involved in the church at all. Are we simply interested in an intellectual exchange, a play with semantics? Are we interested in supporting our own agenda rather than exploring the ways and words of Jesus? Do we come to church simply for the social connections? Do we seek a kind of built-in family or community? Do we come seeking to know Jesus more intimately, serve Him more fully, follow Him more closely? 

Selah. Pause and consider.

For today, let's spend a few minutes considering our own motivation for coming to Christ, to the church. Are we, like the lawyer, there only to achieve our own purposes or do we come, humble and open, to our Savior? Let's be sure our motivation is one that pleases Christ and leads us toward that eternal life about which we will soon learn. 
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The link to last night's post, Ryan's Rooster Adventure, is here: leannahollis.blogspot.com/2015/01/ryans-rooster-adventure.html
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If you are weary in waiting for the answer to your prayer, here's something that can help. The Waiting: When the Answer to Your Prayer is Delayed and Your Hope is Gone, is available here. Also available in Tupelo at Joyful Creations and Park Place Salon.

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