Comments on: Love Your Neighbor http://onebigg.com/2008/06/09/love-your-neighbor/ Thoughts and misc. ramblings of Matt Norman. Tue, 18 Nov 2008 21:41:24 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.2.1 By: Matt http://onebigg.com/2008/06/09/love-your-neighbor/#comment-157 Matt Tue, 10 Jun 2008 19:36:21 +0000 http://onebigg.com/2008/06/09/love-your-neighbor/#comment-157 <p>This is one of my favorite passages and it speaks to me very deeply. It is this passage that initially sparked the fire inside of me that drives me into ministry. It is also this passage that continues to motivate me in that direction. Thank you for pointing out the connection between this passage and the Great commandment. This passage illustrates how we are to "love our neighbor as ourselves" and confirms what I was saying. </p> <p>While I am very fond of this passage, it did not come to mind when I was making this original post. I don't guess there is any better confirmation then the very words of Jesus.</p> You are completely right that we must truly LOVE others. Even as Christians we tend to forget this. I feel for any Christian that thinks that love is simply a matter of not being mean to people. We love ourselves more then that and we love our family and friends more then that, but Jesus is telling us that we should love everyone this way, not just those close to us. This is one of my favorite passages and it speaks to me very deeply. It is this passage that initially sparked the fire inside of me that drives me into ministry. It is also this passage that continues to motivate me in that direction. Thank you for pointing out the connection between this passage and the Great commandment. This passage illustrates how we are to “love our neighbor as ourselves” and confirms what I was saying.

While I am very fond of this passage, it did not come to mind when I was making this original post. I don’t guess there is any better confirmation then the very words of Jesus.

You are completely right that we must truly LOVE others. Even as Christians we tend to forget this. I feel for any Christian that thinks that love is simply a matter of not being mean to people. We love ourselves more then that and we love our family and friends more then that, but Jesus is telling us that we should love everyone this way, not just those close to us.

]]> By: Jay http://onebigg.com/2008/06/09/love-your-neighbor/#comment-155 Jay Tue, 10 Jun 2008 12:40:51 +0000 http://onebigg.com/2008/06/09/love-your-neighbor/#comment-155 Jesus felt so strongly about this that he speaks to this in Matthew 25. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.' 40 "The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.' 45 "He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.' For those that are willing to love their neighbor; give them something to eat, give them something to drink, invite them in, cloth them, care for them and visit them. The King will say to them; 34…'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For those that aren’t willing to love their neighbor….He will say, 41….'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. We probably don’t teach this enough….if we are to truly receive the fullness of God’s love for us, we MUST truly love others….if we are to truly receive the fullness of God’s forgiveness, we MUST truly forgive others. Jesus felt so strongly about this that he speaks to this in Matthew 25.

35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

40 “The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’

45 “He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

For those that are willing to love their neighbor; give them something to eat, give them something to drink, invite them in, cloth them, care for them and visit them. The King will say to them; 34…’Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.

For those that aren’t willing to love their neighbor….He will say, 41….’Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

We probably don’t teach this enough….if we are to truly receive the fullness of God’s love for us, we MUST truly love others….if we are to truly receive the fullness of God’s forgiveness, we MUST truly forgive others.

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