After reading my Bible online this morning at Blue Letter Bible, I then clicked on Day By Day Grace by Bob Hoekstra. Today’s devotional is entitled The Message of God’s Law – Be Loving.
When you think of the Ten Commandments given in writing to God’s people at Mt. Sinai (Exodus 20:1-17), what comes into your mind? Bob Hoekstra bases his devotion for today on the amazing summation of God’s law which is given by Christ in Matthew 22:37 – 40:
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.
Here is a short portion from the devotional:
“Love your neighbor.” The secondary demand of God’s law is an unselfish love toward every other person. We are to love others as ourselves. Some have wrongly used this phrase to urge people to obey an imaginary third commandment: “We need to learn to love ourselves”?! No, Jesus said there are only two commandments here. This second one is a call to give others the consideration and care that we all have given to ourselves all of our lives. Jesus later intensified this second command by saying, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you” (John 13:34).
Thanks so much for these thoughts. I went to the 1928 prayer book service at our church today, and this scripture from Matthew is part of the service. It’s nice to have Bob Hoekstra’s thoughts on these same words.
Thank you, Kathie, for your comment. I’m glad you enjoyed the excerpt from Bob Hoekstra’s devotional. 🙂