It’s a shame when Christians get worked up about all sorts of rules and prohibitions and “thou shalts” and “thou shalt nots”. Jesus had a lot to say about people who wrapped God in extra laws and rules. He called them blind guides, fools, serpents, and hypocrites. These were the the theological scholars and church leaders of His time!
Jesus had a problem with these extra laws because they were clouding the real priorities of God and acting as a huge barrier for people who didn’t yet know God. One of the main things Jesus taught when He came to earth is in today’s verse. God has really simple priorities. And they are all and only about love. In the very next verse, Jesus says all the law and the prophets are summed up with these two commandments. In other words, I don’t need to worry about remembering 613 commandments. I don’t even have to worry about ten commandments. Just two: love God with all I’ve got and love other people as if they were me.
Jesus didn’t say I could pretend the law, those 613 commandments, never existed. He said He didn’t come to abolish the law, in fact. He came to fulfill it. What does that mean?
God gave the law to show us how high His standards are and to teach us how crappy we are at meeting those standards. We are so crappy at it that we can’t even understand His standards let alone obey them. Fortunately Jesus came to interpret God’s law for us and to meet those standards for us so we don’t have to. He clarified God’s priorities, showed us how to live them out, and then died in our place because He knew we’d still fail.
Just because I’m crappy at something important doesn’t mean I should stop trying. If I did, I never would have learned to walk. I would have toppled over a few times, then thrown up my hands and said, “Oh well, I guess I won’t be one of those people who walks.” I’m crappy at loving. Crappy at loving God and crappy at loving other people as much as I love myself. But God knows that, and He still loves me. He gave me a way into His kingdom anyway. Whew! But He still expects me to keep trying. Every time I fail to love well, He expects me to try again. Practice and practice and practice until I take one little shuffling step forward and all heaven rejoices.
Dear God,
Thank you so much for simplifying your commands for me, for clarifying your priorities. Two commands about love is enough to handle. I’m sorry for my many past failures and those I will have in the future. Show me where my steps are going wrong and where my balance is off. Give me the strength and encouragement to keep at it. To keep loving.
CamDevo 