“Love your neighbor as yourself” is well-known. Jesus said that it was one of the two greatest commandments, and the scribe he was talking to seemed to agree with him, in Mark 12:28-34, and elsewhere in the Gospels.
The context isn’t as well known. Here’s more of Leviticus 19:
16 “‘You shall not go up and down as a slanderer among your people.
“‘You shall not endanger the life of your neighbor. I am Yahweh.
17 “‘You shall not hate your brother in your heart. You shall surely rebuke your neighbor, and not bear sin because of him.
18 “‘You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people; but you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am Yahweh.”
And more: 33 “‘If a stranger lives as a foreigner with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. 34 The stranger who lives as a foreigner with you shall be to you as the native-born among you, and you shall love him as yourself; for you lived as foreigners in the land of Egypt. I am Yahweh your God.” (Quoting from the World English Bible, public domain)
That’s amazing, considering what the Old Testament Israelites were told to do to some of the people of the land. Thanks for reading.
Musings on science, the Bible, and fantastic literature (and sometimes basketball and other stuff).
God speaks to us through the Bible and the findings of science, and we should listen to both types of revelation.
The title is from Psalm 84:11.
The Wikipedia is usually a pretty good reference. I mostly use the World English Bible (WEB), because it is public domain. I am grateful.
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The posts in this blog are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. You can copy and use this material, as long as you aren't making money from it. If you give me credit, thanks. If not, OK.
Showing posts with label Mark 12. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mark 12. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 05, 2013
Sunday, May 20, 2012
How to love God - musings
Mark 12:28 One of
the scribes came, and heard them questioning together. Knowing that he
had answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the greatest of
all?”
Lest there be any doubt of the correctness of the answer, in Luke's description of what was probably the same event, Jesus explicitly affirmed that answer:
Luke 10:25 Behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested him, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”
26 He said to him, “What is written in the law? How do you read it?”
27 He answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind; [Deuteronomy 6:5] and your neighbor as yourself. [Leviticus 19:18]” 28 He said to him, “You have answered correctly. Do this, and you will live.”
So how do we love God?
One way, Jesus said, is to follow His teachings, or commandments. See John 14:15-24. I take it that much of those teachings are in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5-7.
I did an on-line search, and found these articles (there are many others):
This one says that being thankful is the key. (That includes being thankful for things we don't like.) This one gives several pointers, and discusses what to do when we don't feel like loving God. Here is an essay on loving God with all your mind. Here is a page that gives six good ideas on how to love God. The six are: 1) obeying the commandments 2) trusting 3) put God first 4) be committed 5) be humble 6) spend time in prayer.
George Croly expressed love for God in a great poem.
Let me add a couple of ideas. If I really love someone, I will pay attention to what they say, even if I don't like it, or it's repetitive. If I really love someone, I want to be in their company. If I really love someone, I want the best for them -- I want them to be thought well of.
Thanks for reading.
29 Jesus answered,
“The greatest is, ‘Hear, Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one:
30 you
shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your
soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment.
31 The second is like this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” There is no other commandment greater than these.”
So the most important commandment is to love God.
Lest there be any doubt of the correctness of the answer, in Luke's description of what was probably the same event, Jesus explicitly affirmed that answer:
Luke 10:25 Behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested him, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”
26 He said to him, “What is written in the law? How do you read it?”
27 He answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind; [Deuteronomy 6:5] and your neighbor as yourself. [Leviticus 19:18]” 28 He said to him, “You have answered correctly. Do this, and you will live.”
So how do we love God?
One way, Jesus said, is to follow His teachings, or commandments. See John 14:15-24. I take it that much of those teachings are in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5-7.
I did an on-line search, and found these articles (there are many others):
This one says that being thankful is the key. (That includes being thankful for things we don't like.) This one gives several pointers, and discusses what to do when we don't feel like loving God. Here is an essay on loving God with all your mind. Here is a page that gives six good ideas on how to love God. The six are: 1) obeying the commandments 2) trusting 3) put God first 4) be committed 5) be humble 6) spend time in prayer.
George Croly expressed love for God in a great poem.
Let me add a couple of ideas. If I really love someone, I will pay attention to what they say, even if I don't like it, or it's repetitive. If I really love someone, I want to be in their company. If I really love someone, I want the best for them -- I want them to be thought well of.
Thanks for reading.
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