"And this is his command: to believe in the name of his son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another..." 1 John 3:23
In the end, it's all much simpler than we sometimes want to make it. Everything we think God expects us to be and do is simply overwhelming at times. But really, he only asks two simple things of us. He doesn't ask of us to focus on fulfilling the 10 commandments, nor especially the thousands of laws and regulations managed by the Old Testament legalists. He asks two simple things: believe in Jesus and love each other. I love the simplicity and freedom of that. It seems achievable. And I suspect that if we've mastered these two simple things, we will look back and realize we have achieved much more.
If we really believe that Jesus did all those things - healing people born with blindness and terrible physical infirmities, turning crumbs to loaves, raising people from the dead. If we really believe that he was raised from death and lives with God in eternity appealing to God on our behalf. If we believe that he has all the answers and is limited by nothing and knows what is in our best interest, then we'll live a lot differently. We'll admit to our failures and we'll surrender to his purposes for us. If we really believe in Jesus, we'll act like it he's still alive and I'm part of his purpose in this world.
Secondly, if we really believe and experience Jesus fully, we'll have such an overflow of joy and love that it will pour out on those around us. We'll seek the interest of others beyond our own. We'll find ourselves grieved for those who are experiencing loneliness, illness, hopelessness and poverty. We'll respond with gentleness and kindness to those who wrong us and we'll initiate kind words and actions towards everyone we come in contact with. We'll love people and experience the joy that comes with it.
So let's let it come down to these two simple things. Let's ask Jesus to help us believe in him more fully and love people more completely. Then we will have fulfilled his command.
In the end, it's all much simpler than we sometimes want to make it. Everything we think God expects us to be and do is simply overwhelming at times. But really, he only asks two simple things of us. He doesn't ask of us to focus on fulfilling the 10 commandments, nor especially the thousands of laws and regulations managed by the Old Testament legalists. He asks two simple things: believe in Jesus and love each other. I love the simplicity and freedom of that. It seems achievable. And I suspect that if we've mastered these two simple things, we will look back and realize we have achieved much more.
If we really believe that Jesus did all those things - healing people born with blindness and terrible physical infirmities, turning crumbs to loaves, raising people from the dead. If we really believe that he was raised from death and lives with God in eternity appealing to God on our behalf. If we believe that he has all the answers and is limited by nothing and knows what is in our best interest, then we'll live a lot differently. We'll admit to our failures and we'll surrender to his purposes for us. If we really believe in Jesus, we'll act like it he's still alive and I'm part of his purpose in this world.
Secondly, if we really believe and experience Jesus fully, we'll have such an overflow of joy and love that it will pour out on those around us. We'll seek the interest of others beyond our own. We'll find ourselves grieved for those who are experiencing loneliness, illness, hopelessness and poverty. We'll respond with gentleness and kindness to those who wrong us and we'll initiate kind words and actions towards everyone we come in contact with. We'll love people and experience the joy that comes with it.
So let's let it come down to these two simple things. Let's ask Jesus to help us believe in him more fully and love people more completely. Then we will have fulfilled his command.
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