Skip to main content

Recall the Words...and the Command


Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking. I want you to recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the command given by our Lord and Savior through your apostles. (2 Peter 3:1-2)
         According to my study Bible's notes, this is supposed to refer to the Day of the Lord spoken of by the prophets. It's probably right, but what comes to my mind is that the Law and the Prophets, and Jesus' "greatest command" was to love the Lord with all our hearts, souls, minds and strengths and to love our neighbors as ourselves. Yes, we're back to that again. Obeying that commandment is likely to become more difficult as the Day of the Lord approaches, because the people we're commanded to love may suffer greatly and even if we don't suffer ourselves, we'll suffer with them; or the people we're commanded to love may be responsible for our suffering.
         The command to love God and love our neighbors is a constant theme in Scripture. One of the benefits of listening to the Bible on CD, especially on a long trip like Pennsylvania to Florida is that you hear phrases and ideas repeated in a comparatively short time. The first command to love the Lord is in Deuteronomy 5.  It is connected with obeying God in Deuteronomy 11:1 13 and 22 and 19:9, then again in 30:16 and 20. Joshua 22:5 and 23:11 mention it.  So does Psalm 31:23. Psalm 97:10 associates loving God with hating evil. Of course, Matthew 22:37-40 and Mark 12:30-31are the gospel account in which Jesus brings together loving God and loving one's neighbor.  In John 14, Jesus talks about the disciples loving Him by obeying Him. Jesus asked Peter three times if Peter loved Him.
         In addition to the passages in Matthew and Mark in which Jesus puts the ideas together, you can't read anything by John (except perhaps Revelation) in which loving others is not discussed. Matthew 5:44 and Luke 6:27 and 35 are all commands to love our enemies.  In Romans 13:8, Paul commanded us to love one another, and of course, I Corinthians 13:4-8 is a well-considered description of love.  Peter commanded us to love one another in   I Peter 1:22, and James does so in  James 2:8. The idea is first mentioned in Leviticus 19:18. 
        Many years ago, I heard that if God mentions something once, you need to pay attention. If He mentions it twice, you really need to take notice. If He mentions it more than twice.... I guess the obvious conclusion is that this is vitally important to God, but then, as John put it, God is love.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Think About These Things

                 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. (Philippians 4:8) This passage is a major challenge for me. Like everyone else, I struggle to keep my thoughts from wandering off into the weeds, then wondering what possible benefits those weeds might have… Sigh. But as a writer, I have to delve at least a little into the ignoble, wrong, impure, unlovely, and debased. After all, there’s no story if everything’s just as it should be and everyone’s happy. As Christians, there are times when we need to deal with all the negatives, but that makes it even more important that we practice turning our minds by force of attention to what is noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy. It’s just too easy to get stuck in a swamp. With my...
1 comment
Read more

Higher Thoughts

  “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the  Lord . “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9)           The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments,   for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord      so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. (I Corinthians 2:15-16) If you read about the ancient gods of the various peoples, you’ll find that they think just like people. In fact, they think just like the sort of people we really wouldn’t want to be around. They think like the most corrupt Hollywood producer or, like hormone overloaded teens with no upbringing.   It’s embarrassing to read. I have a friend who argues that because God is not just like us, He is so vastly dif...
2 comments
Read more

Pure...

            The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. (I Timothy 1:5)   I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. (Revelation 3:15-16) I’m probably cheating - or mishandling the Bible, but earlier I was thinking about love being pure and purifying. And hatred being pure and purifying. And anger…joy…patience… fear… jealousy… courage…lust… and other strongly felt feelings, attitudes, and beliefs. Today’s verse brings purity and love together, so it’s the verse of the day, but it’s not really the focus. That means my motive for sharing it with you probably isn’t pure. As you read through my list, you   probably thought, “Yeah” about some, and “What’s she on?” about others. But consider how much hatred, a...
Post a Comment
Read more