jar writes:
If you are instructed to do something don't you think it would be a good idea to try to do your best?
Hi jar
You talk about trying to do your best. I would suggest that it isn’t about trying. To use the second person singular as you have done, it is about who you are as a person.
Micah 6:8 tells us
quote:
He has told you, O man, what is good;
And what does the LORD require of you
But to do justice, to love kindness,
And to walk humbly with your God?
Are you the kind of person who instinctively has come to find joy in kindness whether it be in yourself or in others. Does injustice cause you to be sorrowful? Or on the other side of the ledger do you feel a smug satisfaction in the downfall of someone who you just don’t happen to like?
CS Lewis writes that the great sin is pride. Do you think that because of your superior brain, athletic ability or looks that you are somehow a cut above someone else who isn’t as gifted.
So (even though the quote says to do justice) I would suggest that it isn’t about either trying or doing as the trying and the doing is just a result of who you really are as a person. Do we humbly love justice and kindness?
In Matthew 22:34-40 Jesus tells us
quote:
But when the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered themselves together. One of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?" And He said to him, " 'YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.' "This is the great and foremost commandment. "The second is like it, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.' "On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets."
Once again, it isn’t about either trying or doing. It is about love. Do we love God, do we love our neighbour or is it all about ourselves?
To tie it back to the opening post. Look at the Micah quote: what does the Lord require of you?. He doesn’t go on to say that that you have to believe a certain theology. The great commission is about building a church, guided by His Holy Spirit, to carry on the work of Jesus, by taking His message of hope, justice, peace, mercy, forgiveness and above all love to the world.
Edited by GDR, : No reason given.
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