The commandments, “You
shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You
shall not covet,” and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in
this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
We like things simplified. We like concise, quick, easy to
follow instructions that we can reference on the fly. Just look at all the corporations
in the past 10 years that have reduced their names to acronyms instead of the
traditional multiple word names. And for a lot of us, we cringe at the idea of
having to following complex instructions to complete a task, build an object,
or perform some function. The Bible is certainly not concise, as it’s filled
with pages and pages of instructions, commands, and lessons about the
relationship between God and man. And that is why the text above from Romans 13
seemed to jump off the page. It summarizes God’s commands for us…it simplifies
it for us simple minded people. The Ten Commandments that God handed down
through Moses are summarized into one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself”.
If there is one thing that we are all very good at, it’s looking at for #1…it’s
making sure we are taken care of, we get our fair share, we stand tall, and we
are protected, secure, and confident. We are by nature selfish and are over
time become experts at making sure we take great care of ourselves. So God is
instructing us to take that “expertise” in self-preservation and apply it to
our relationships with others. We are to love other people as we love
ourselves. And that manifests itself in how we interact with other people. Are
we caring, protecting, and building-up others? Or are we knocking them down a
rung or two in order to get what we want? Are we speaking words that make people
feel good, secure, and confident about themselves? Or are we letting our mouths
run wild leaving others in a pile of rubble? The text from Romans above strikes
me as further evidence of God’s patience, understanding, and love for his
people…he breaks it down to a very simply and basic level so that all may
understand. Love our neighbor as you love yourself…protect your neighbor as you
protect yourself…build-up your neighbor as you build-up yourself. Forgive your
neighbor as you forgive yourself…tolerate your neighbor as you tolerate
yourself…be merciful to your neighbor as you are merciful to yourself. Simple.
Basic. Straightforward. May we keep the simplified instructions above fresh in
our minds, remembering that we are called to truly love those around us. To God
alone be the glory!
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