Scripture
The man answered, “You must love the lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength and all your mind, and love your neighbour as yourself.”
Observation
An expert in the law asks Jesus what he needs to do to inherit eternal life. Jesus turns the question back to him and says, “What do you reckon the law says about that?” The man replies with the scriptures above about loving God and neighbour.
The expert asks Jesus to define who is the neighbour, and so Jesus responds with the well-known story of the Good Samaritan. The answer to the question “Who is my neighbour?” must include our enemies if we are truly to obey God.
Application
This man really knew what God expects of us. But, like us, the bible says “he wanted to justify himself.” In other words,he knew already what the answer should be, but he was hoping Jesus would supply a loophole that allowed him to avoid the commandment.
We often seek ways to justify our sinfulness in the face of Jesus' command to love God and our neighbour, including our enemies.
Jesus asks us to repent of our loopholes, to turn away from our self-excusing and to take seriously the demand to love courageously.
Prayer
Holy Spirit, you have a way of nailing up the loopholes and confronting our self-justification. Help me to walk each day in true self-giving love. Amen.
Sometimes that is difficult to do, but with God, we can do it!
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