Friday, August 19, 2016

Matthew 22: 34-40

When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees,
they gathered together, and one of them,
a scholar of the law, tested him by asking,
“Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?”
He said to him,
“You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart,
with all your soul, and with all your mind.
This is the greatest and the first commandment.
The second is like it:
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”

If there was only one part of the bible you could ever read this would be that part. This sums up everything you need to know to live a good life both here on earth and with God in heaven.

Love God with all that you are.

Love your neighbor as God has loved you.

These two commandments boil down to just one word – agape.

Agape is the highest form of love possible. It is the total giving of self for another. It is sacrificial love. It is the love God has for each and every one of his children. It is the love we are called to have for God and each other. It is what we have been made for.

To truly love someone is to will the best for that person. What is best for a person is not necessarily what is best for us. But in order to love someone we have to put their best interests before our own. It was not in Christ’s best interests to die upon the cross. He did it not for himself but for us.

The crucifix is the visible face of agape love. The crucifix shows us the real nature of God. For God so loved the world that he allowed himself to be tortured and killed so that we may live. Are you willing to do the same for someone else?