A few years ago, an Eritrean Brother in Christ asked me a
Bible question that was so easy could barely withhold my laughter. He asked me, “How many commandments are
there?” I almost responded, “Are you kidding me?” But I didn’t. Still I smiled
pretty smugly and said, “Of course ten!”
He smiled with amusement shaking his head, “You are wrong Brother!” I said, “What do you mean I’m wrong! There
are 10 Man! Just check out Exodus! TEN!!! 1-0!!” He smiled even more and said, “It is true
that the Decalogue is in Exodus, but you have forgotten that Jesus said, ‘A new
Commandment I give unto you! So actually, there are 11!’” My goodness! He was right! Jesus said, “A new
commandment, I give unto you. That you love one another, as I have loved you –
that you love one another as I have loved you. By this, shall everyone know you
are my disciples – that you have love for one another.” ELEVEN commandments and number 11 presents
quite a challenge!
In his first letter, the Apostle John shares some strong
admonitions regarding this new commandment for those who claim to know God. He
says, “Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an
old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is
the word that you have heard. At the same time, it is a new
commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because the
darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. Whoever
says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. Whoever
loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause
for stumbling. But whoever hates his brother is in
the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is
going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.”
Love is hard. It is
prettied up and watered down in movies and entertainment, but real life, real
time love is hard, gut wrenching work. He
Bible defines love in these terms:
“Love is patient and kind; love does
not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not
insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does
not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love
bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all
things.”
Ever had your patience tested when someone gets on your
nerve? It’s a chance to demonstrate love.
Ever been tempted to bra after a victory, or answer in kind when someone
is incredibly rude? It’s an opportunity
to rise above the fray with love. Ever
been challenged to give a cheerful greeting before you’ve had that first cup of
coffee, or to bear with your annoying cousin Joey, or to keep hope alive in
your heart when your circumstances dictate there is no hope or to hang tough
and endure when you’ve reached the end of your rope? All of these circumstances give us a chance
to demonstrate real love! Real love
demonstrates God’s goodness, grace and strength through our human actions even
when it doesn’t seem to make sense to show it.
But when real love is demonstrated, it can soften hearts,
change the course of history and stop evil and wickedness dead in its
tracks. We have become a society obsessed
with enjoying and expressing our rights and our fixation on being right. In our pursuit of “rightness” we have left
love on the side of the road, covered with the dust of our ambitions and self-righteousness. Love will pursue righteousness, which means
doing what is right, in the right way, even if it hurts us. We love because it
is right. But, being right in the right way also probably means that at least
for a time, we will pay the emotional, physical and spiritual price for someone
else’s mistake in a way that can deeply hurt us. Love means that time and time
again, we will have to go to the well of God’s love, casting our bucket into
its depths with weary arms, strained backs and withered wills asking God to
lift the bucket for us so that we can express His love beyond our own abilities
and give hope to those who desperately need to see somebody show them what true
love is.
Today, in the course of your daily duties, I challenge you
to love. Not just when it’s easy, such
as when a beautiful person beckons or a sure reward awaits an act of kindness
and sacrifice. I’m calling all of us to
love that driver who hoists the universal “friendship salute”! I’m asking us to love that obnoxious coworker
who just doesn’t know when to be quiet.
I calling us to love someone who has deeply wronged us, choosing to pray
for them and to forgive them rather than to despise them and hate them.
The 11the commandment is a toughy, but it’s a beauty! In fact, it’s the most beautiful commandment
and the linchpin of all the commandments that surround it. Let’s pray for the strength to love. It is
what the world needs now, and it is
sweet!
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