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Good Shepherd Lutheran Church Today's Frontline Devotion February 11, 2005 The Greatest Commandment |
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Frontline Devotion for Friday, February 11, 2005 By Mike
Martine
Matthew
22: 34-40
“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your 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.’ All the Law and
the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
I once heard a wise man admonishing a group of senior high campers in a
leadership camp. In this process, he made the statement. “To say the least,
several commandments have been broken. And, of course, when we break any
commandment, we always, in turn, break the first.”
I had never thought of it that way, and I was reminded of this statement today
when I read the words of Jesus regarding the second “great” commandment:
“the second is like (the first)”…
While the commandments Jesus cites here are taken from places in the Bible other
than our traditional “list” of ten, the same idea that to break a
“lesser” commandment is to also break the “greatest” one, (i.e. to love
God) is still there. When we covet that which is not ours, when we harm another
person, when we steal, when we lie, when we fail to love a neighbor…all of
these things dishonor God. All of these things break the command to hold God
above all else.
For coveting, stealing, lying, hurting, killing, failing to love and so forth
are acts that separate us from the almighty. They are, in essence, acts that
display our distrust of God’s promise to care for us and protect us. Acts that
display our dissatisfaction with the gifts we have been given by God—our
longing for more that we have been granted.
When you look at life, at sin, in this way, you realize there is always a victim
to sin. You realize, as well, that there is no “small” sin. Sin hurts us, it
hurts others, and, ultimately, it hurts our relationship to God.
Take the two commandments of Jesus and live by them. (They’re easier to
remember, after all, than the ten.) You will find in them a guide to life, and
that in living a life dedicated to loving God and others, the nonsense of life
will be stripped away, leaving a path to a life that is joyful, full, and holy.
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All are welcome to join and share in our Devotional Ministry on the "Frontlines" of the world. Frontline Devotions are sent via email daily. Sign up by clicking on the box to the left. Pastor Dave welcomes feedback. Contact him at pastordave@goodshepherdonline.org. |
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