Love of God and Love of neighbor form the crux of the covenant God made with Israel through Moses, as well as the covenant made with the church, τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ, those called out of the world into the kingdom of God.
- Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, all of your soul, all of your mind, and all of your strength.
- Regard the well being of others as you regard your own well being.
Directly from God, Moses received the law on tablets of stone. From the lips of Jesus the Christ, the disciples heard the law of love. The tablets, known as the ten commandments, or Decalogue, prescribed how people should act toward God and others. Micah describes the moral life in terms of ethics toward God and others,
“8 He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God?” In the past, in the present, in the future God requires actions of love to God and to Others.
It is in bringing to fullness the work of Christ in my life, along with the belief that God desires union with us all that I find expression of our relationship with the God. Jesus Christ reconciled those who trust in Him to God by His act of love:
19For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him,20and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven.
When we spend time with Christ, our entire outlook is transformed. Concern about our own well being begins to mix with concern for others. God’s Holy Spirit shines light from God’s perspective and we can not help but to act in mercy, grace, and love toward those who cross our path, toward those around us who are in pain. The Holy Spirit, “… whom they that believe on him [Jesus] should receive:”
- The power of God’s energy begins to crumble and break the self’s endless action of expending energy, resources, and strength on itself, causing and motivating us to expend energy, resources, and strength on others as well.
- The power of the Spirit strengthens and encourages us to strengthen and encourage others.
1 The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives and freedom to prisoners; 2 To proclaim the favorable year of the LORD and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn, 3 to grant those who mourn in Zion, giving them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting. So they will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.
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