The Lord Jesus confronted the Pharisee’s and when He did they had this question to ask Him, in hopes that they could trip him.
“Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” (Matt 22:36–40)
First where did Jesus get this from: ” And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.”Deuteronomy 6:4-6
“Love ye therefore the stranger: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.”
Deuteronomy 10:18-20
What has gotten my attention is how simple this is and yet so profound. How easy it is, yet how so very hard it is. It is easy to love God, but is it? I don’t know about you, but with me the harder I try the more illusive it becomes. This is not to say that the Holy Spirit can’t bring this about in our lives, but that it is a daily exercise. To me the hard part is not the first of these, even as difficult as that can some times be knowing that we are prone to wander. The hard part is the second commandment. How do I love my neighbor when I do not even know my neighbor? How do I love my neighbor on the other side of the world, who I might even say I hate? There are those in this world who are almost impossible to love. Impossible or not we are still commanded to love our neighbor even if our neighbor happens to be an enemy. The commandment in Galatians 6:10 “As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.” This is what got to me how do I love my enemies when they are not very lovely? How do I love the Muslim, when they say and do so many terrible things? I found that our Lord was very specific with the Pharisee in that he corrected their error. They said to love their neighbor, but hate their enemy. Jesus said yes love your neighbor, but also love your enemy. Jesus took time to answer the serious, real questions of a Pharisee by the name of Nicodemus. You know this can actually be life changing. This is called active obedience to Christ and cannot be accomplished without the work of the Holy Spirit.
