We Demonstrate That We Are Law Abiding Citizens Of Heaven When We Love Our Neigbours In The Same Way We Love Ourselves If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well: (James 2:8) Loving God Loving Each Other - https://youtube/watch?v=0HAb408XUPs Every single human being in this world wants to be loved. Each one of us what to be welcomed and cherished by others. Deep down within the hearts of every single human being is this desire to be in a relationship where they feel appreciated and special. Unfortunately, not everyone who has this desire will experience this type of relationship. When we think about it very carefully most, if not, all of us want someone to love us before we are willing to love someone else. This kind of attitude doesn’t sit well with the royal law. If we only love someone because they love us then we do not demonstrate that we are children of the heavenly Father. God demonstrates to us what true love really is. Long before you and I came into this world, God executed a plan to rescue us from ourselves. He loves us even when we don’t love Him. Every single time that we hate our neighnour we demonstrate that we don’t love God. But does God hate us before we hate our brother? If we want to demonstrate that we are true disciples of God then we must allow the Holy Spirit to take full control of our lives. We must allow the Holy Spirit to help us do what Jesus said in James 2:8. The word of the Lord said, “If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well:” Look carefully at what the word of God said must occur before we can love our neighbor. We must be able to love ourselves. How will we be able to love the beauty that exists in another person if we cannot accept our own beauty? How will be able to take care of the needs of others if we unable to take care of our own needs. You see my friend; if we don’t have an abiding relationship with the Lord so that we can experience His love, we won’t know how to love those who are around us. When we experience the forgiveness of the law after we have transgressed His law, this will help us to know how to forgive those who trespass against us. Here God is reminding us that its our encounter with Him on a daily basis that will give us the power to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. Ponder for a moment the words of Jesus in Matt. 5:43-45 - 43 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.” Only God can help us to love those who hate us. I pray that we will continue to ask God to transform our heart and to help us to love everybody no matter who they are. Priests and rulers had interposed themselves between the people and God, and they sought to interpose between them and the great Teacher, even as they do in this day. How great will be the responsibility of men who seek to hinder souls from entering into the kingdom of heaven! The whole tenor of Christs teaching was contrary to that of the rabbis. In his sermon on the mount he tore away the middle wall of partition that separated men one from another through national prejudices, and taught the exercise of a love that was to embrace the human race. He said to the people: Christ teaches that we are to recognize our neighbor in every race and condition of men. No distinction is to be made as to who is our neighbor, on the ground of poverty, or wealth, or position. The followers of Christ are to see their neighbor in any one who needs their help. All ye are brethren. The Lord has not established a kingdom merely for the rich, and the one essential thing for an entrance into his kingdom is Christlikeness of character. The Lawgiver explained the meaning of the divine precepts, and showed that they were not arbitrary requirements, but that in the doing of them there is life; for Christ from the pillar of cloud had distinctly told them that those who did them should live in them. The Ten Commandments are called in the New Testament the royal law of liberty. In obeying the divine precepts, men will assimilate to the divine character; for the character of God is expressed in his holy law. In substituting their own ideas, in erecting their own standard, they will come to misrepresent the Father and Jesus Christ, whom he has sent, coming far short of Christlikeness of character. In erecting a standard for themselves, they will cling to their own deficiencies, practice their former habits, and fall far below the perfection of Christs character. But through the grace of Christ, we should ever strive to reach the perfect standard. We are in a world of imperfection, and on every hand is the image of false Christs,--Christians who are Christians only in name; for they are retaining objectional attributes of character, that mark them as subjects of the enemy, rather than subjects of the Prince Emmanuel. Were they under the control of Christ, they would bear his image and superscription; but they are false christs, misrepresenting Jesus, denying him every day in character, although professing to believe on his name. Christ expounded the precepts of the law in his sermon on the mount; for he knew that some who were departing from it, would return to allegiance, and become representatives of the Son and the Father. (Signs of the Times, October 17, 1895 – Ellen G. White) It was the same Jesus who commanded that love should be the ruling principle in the old dispensation, that commanded that love should be the ruling principle in the hearts of his followers in the New Testament. The working out of the principle of love is true sanctification. Those who walk in the light will be the children of the light, and will diffuse light to those who are around them in kindness, in affection, in unmistakable love. God is love: and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Unless love is cherished in the soul, and that continually, Christ does not abide in the heart. He who is devoid of love, has not the shining of the bright beams of the Sun of Righteousness in the chambers of heart and mind. But the soul who has opened the door of the heart to Jesus, will reveal the light of life in practical godliness. Pure doctrine will blend with works of righteousness; heavenly precepts will mingle with holy practices. The heart that is filled with the grace of Christ will be made manifest by its peace and joy; and where Christ abides, the character will become purified, elevated, ennobled, and glorified. (The Youth’s Instructor, November 8, 1894 – Ellen G. White)
Posted on: Tue, 28 Oct 2014 11:09:05 +0000
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