#19. May 11, 2015
2015 Devotional. Our goal for these weekly devotionals is to grow in humility and to grow spiritually by memorizing selected passages, putting them into context, and by applying them to our daily living. These passages are taken from: “100 Verses Every Christian Needs to Know” by Freeman-Smith. All passages are from the NIV.
Matthew 7:12
12 So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.
The last time we saw this passage is was in the context of “Asking, Seeking, and Knocking”. (See the March 30 2015 Dev.) We find the same passage in Luke 6:31but it is in a different context. It is still part of the “Sermon on the Mount” as told by Luke, but the context is: “love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you”.
The precept of turning the other cheek is one of the most difficult precepts that Jesus asks us to follow. It is rooted in the love of Jesus, the love of God. Interpreting Scripture with Scripture we turn to Rom 13: 9-10. Here we are commanded: “Love your neighbor as yourself, love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfillment of the law.” Christ has fulfilled the law for us (Mt. 5:17-19) the law does not condemn those in Christ Jesus but those who ignore it without repentance will be least in the “Kingdom of Heaven”.
A lot is made of Christian freedom, but freedom always has parameters that make us free; there is no question about the boundaries. Galatians 5:13-14 interprets that concept for us: “You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh [a]; rather, serve one another humbly in love. 14 For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself”. Jesus tells us to “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” (Luke 10:27) Jesus connects God and neighbor! In God’s command to love are we able to truly love one and not the other in the way Jesus describes?
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