The Second Commandment
“With what shall I come to the Lord, and bow myself before the God on high? Shall I come to Him with burnt offerings; with yearling calves? Does the Lord take delight in thousands of rams; in ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I present my first-born for my rebellious acts; the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has told you, O man, what is good, and what does the Lord require of you. But to do justice, love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.” (Micah 6:6-8)
This is one of my pet peeves, and if you subscribe to, or read my blog then you will probably see this and a few other things as a recurring theme. I get fed-up with Christians who say they know the love of Jesus, yet mistreat their fellow human beings. This is a subject that I find hard to be tactful about, so I’m sorry if I “step on your toes” all I can say is get them out of my way because me and Jesus are walking.
I have noticed that some people, even some Christians, believe that it’s alright to walk on people in order to get to where they’re going, and then once they’re on top they try as hard as they can to keep other people down.
I want to look at a couple of ideas that a lot of people have, and see what the Bible says about their train of thought. The first idea that a lot of people have is the idea that they can do, and in some cases, should do, anything it takes to get “the corner office”; and excel above others. I am not saying that it’s wrong to be ambitious or rise up, but if the only reason your up is because you’re standing on your colleagues then there is something wrong with that. We should always consider others more worthy than ourselves; that is the Supreme example we have from Jesus.
Romans 10:10, 16; “Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor…Be of the same mind toward one another; do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own estimation” Verse 16 says “be of the same mind”, what does that mean well to understand that we must go to Philippians 2:5-7 which says, “Have this attitude(mind) in you which was also in Christ Jesus…emptied Himself taking on the form of a bond-servant…”
The second attitude I want to look at today is the attitude that many people have of “the lowly”; those unfortunate people who are deemed the undesirable by society. First, I want to look at how Jesus treated these people. Mark 14:3 says, ” And while He(Jesus) was at Bethany at the home of Simon the leper…”Leper’s in that day were pretty much equivalent to AIDS patients today most people avoided them, but Jesus associated with.(He had previously healed Simon.)
In that day and time adultery was considered a very serious crime, as it still should be today. Women who committed adultery were permitted, by Jewish law, to be stoned to death; and when the woman who had been caught in adultery was brought before Jesus she was being looked down upon by the religious elite of society, she was an outcast. But Jesus said to her that her sins, and her unacceptable behavior did not condemn her. Listen to His words in John 8:10-11…Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?…Neither do I condemn you; go your way, from now on sin no more.”
There are hundreds more examples in the Scripture’s to tell us that we should treat others with respect, but some people still believe that their treatment of others has nothing to do with their Christian journey, but that is the second most important thing in the life of a Christian. After Jesus told the Pharisees that loving God was the greatest commandment He said in Matthew 22:39, “The second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
So, as you go throughout your day I pray that you will search for ways that you can help others. It is not only the Christian thing to do, but it will also make you feel pretty darn good!
________________________________________
Father, I thank You for giving me the supreme example of love through the life of Your Son, and I ask that You would help me to show that love to all those that I meet, so that I can be a living witness for You. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
________________________________________
The image above can be found at:
http://www.just4kidsmagazine.com/rainbowcastle/10lepers.html
Yes, You Can Ministry 