No Strings Attached

In the tenth chapter of Luke, an expert in religious law asked Jesus what he had to do in order to inherit eternal life.

Jesus responded with two questions of His own: what is written in the law and how do you understand it?

The expert responded.

Luke 10:27 (NET) – “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.”

Jesus told the expert that he answered correctly.

According to scripture, the expert then asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

Jesus then told the expert about a man who was beaten by robbers and left half dead.

He told the expert that first a priest and then a Levite each saw the injured man and passed him by.

Fortunately for the injured man, a Samaritan came along and “felt compassion for him.”

The Samaritan treated his wounds and took him to an inn to render additional treatment.

The next day, the Samaritan gave the innkeeper some money.

He instructed the innkeeper to take care of the injured man and promised to repay him in full whatever was spent on the man’s care.

Jesus then asked the expert which of the three became a neighbor to the injured man,

Luke 10:37 (NET) - The expert in religious law said, “The one who showed mercy to him.” So Jesus said to him, “Go and do the same.”

This is certainly not the only place in scripture we are told to love God.

It is also not the only place in scripture we are told to love our neighbor.

Love, whether for God or neighbor, has to be unconditional.

We are told to love our neighbor in the plainest of terms.

We are to love our neighbor as we love ourselves.

Our fellow man is our neighbor.

He might disagree with us.

He might even dislike us.

To be completely honest, he might even absolutely hate us and everything we believe,

Even so, Jesus reminds us that we are to love him.

We must love him with no strings attached.

The love of God and neighbor go hand in hand,

If we cannot find it within ourselves to love our neighbor unconditionally, we cannot honestly say that we love God.

Blessings,

Jim Pokorny

The Other Brother Jim

Look for me at http://faithfulfeetteam.blogspot.com/ on Friday, July 3, 2015.

I’ll be back here on Friday, July 10, 2015

I Didn't Know

I never have to look far to see God’s blessings in my life.

Every year when Vacation Bible School comes around I can always count on God blessing me through a child.

This year was no exception.

This year I taught the adult class and we studied the life and faith of Jan Hus.

Hus was burned at the stake in 1415, but his example influenced those that founded my church in 1457.

The books that Hus wrote were gathered and publicly burned prior to his execution.

I certainly would not put my writing on the same level as that of Hus, but there is one thing our writings have in common.

Writing is a form of worship and I cannot begin to imagine how it would feel to have that destroyed by men,

I explained that to my class.

I also added that any service performed for the Lord is a form of worship.

As I personally knew the students in that class I looked at each in turn and called out one of the services each performed.

I reminded them that each of these services was a form of worship.

As things came to a close that evening I stayed around to help lock up for the night.

A little boy saw me using my keys as I locked a set of doors.

He ran up to me and said, “Hey! I didn’t know you worked here!”

He knew nothing of my teaching or my writing or anything else about me.

All he saw was me using a set of keys and concluded that I was on the staff.

At that point I remembered what I shared with my class about every service being a form of worship,

I felt extremely loved by God at that moment.

I looked at the little boy, smiled and said, “Yes. I work here. In fact, I have worked here for a very long time.”

He smiled and returned to his family who were waiting nearby.

I removed the key from the lock and thanked God for this very special blessing.

Colossians 3:23-24 (NET) – Whatever you are doing, work at it with enthusiasm, as to the Lord and not for people, because you know that you will receive your inheritance from the Lord as your reward. Serve the Lord Christ.

Blessings,

Jim Pokorny

The Other Brother Jim

Look for me at http://faithfulfeetteam.blogspot.com/ on Friday, June 19, 2015.

I’ll be back here on Friday, June 26, 2015