The Greatest Commandment
The problem of individualism might be the most deceptive of the three temptations of the broad path we looked at yesterday. It convinces us that we love God even while we neglect our neighbor.
Consider the notion of American freedom, which says, “My freedom is mine to enjoy.” Contrast this with Christian freedom, which implies, “My freedom is to serve my neighbor (see Galatians 5:13).
Christian freedom is about service. Freedom, often espoused in our culture, is about the self. Christian freedom is found in God, my neighbor, and myself (in that order). Modern freedom is oriented around the unholy trinity: me, myself, and I.
Our love for our neighbor—especially the neighbor who is very different from us—proves our love for God. Our theology, no matter how good, becomes irrelevant and idolatrous when it’s not used in service of loving God and neighbor.
In a later scene, Jesus is approached by the Pharisees, a group of rigidly devoted religious leaders in Jesus’s day: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” (Matthew 22:36).
Jesus, sensing a verbal trap, quotes from Deuteronomy 6, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength” (verses 4–5). Then, right after referencing this well-known scripture, he adds something to it: “‘The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these (Mark 12:30–31).
The question was, “Which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus cites two. “There is no commandment greater than these.” Now, you may notice the grammatical problem with that sentence. We expect Jesus to say, “There is no commandment greater than this.”
It’s grammatically incorrect but spiritually perceptive. In Jesus’s mind, these two commandments are inseparable. It is impossible to separate loving God from loving others, and it is impossible to separate our personal relationship with God from our personal relationships with those around us. How you love God is how you love your neighbor, and how you love your neighbor is how you love God.
God, I want to love you with all my heart, all my soul, and all my strength. Show me how to do this through serving both you and my neighbor. Amen.
AUGUST 17
CHOOSE FRIENDS WHO MAKE YOU BETTER
As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another. —PROVERBS 27:17
The people with whom we spend our time are very important, because we often pick up some of their habits and character traits. If we spend a lot of time with people who compromise morally, we may begin to think compromise is acceptable for us too. We cannot avoid all immoral people—otherwise, we would have to get out of the world entirely, and we do want our lives to be a witness for Christ to them.
I often say that spending time with people who don’t know Christ is good, as long as we affect them without allowing them to infect us. We spend different amounts of time with different people, but the ones we spend much time with should lift us up and make us better.
If your friends are stingy and greedy, they will not help you become generous. If your friends gossip about others, you may find yourself gossiping or spreading rumors too. However, if your friends are kind, patient, loving, and always ready to help others, you will find yourself wanting to grow in these godly qualities.
Choose your friends wisely, and if you are spending too much time with the wrong kind of people, make a change for the better.
“Father, I want friends who make me a better person. I pray for divine connections. I ask You to guide me to people who are godly rather than worldly and to give me favor with them. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
August 17th THE BUCK STOPS HERE “For nothing outside my reasoned choice can hinder or harm it—my reasoned choice alone can do this to itself. If we would lean this way whenever we fail, and would blame only ourselves and remember that nothing but opinion is the cause of a troubled mind and uneasiness, then by God, I swear we would be making progress.” —EPICTETUS, DISCOURSES, 3.19.2–3 Today, see if you can go without blaming a single person or single thing. Someone messes up your instructions—it’s on you for expecting anything different. Someone says something rude—it’s your sensitivity that interpreted their remark this way. Your stock portfolio takes a big loss—what did you expect making such a big bet? Why are you checking the market day to day anyway?
Whatever it is, however bad it may be, see whether you can make it a whole day laying it all on your reasoned choice. If you can’t make it for a day, see if you can make it for an hour. If not for an hour, then for ten minutes. Start where you need to.
Even one minute without playing the blame game is progress in the art of living.
