Thursday, May 24, 2007

The Most Frequently Taught Law in the Modern Church

I thought I had already linked to this post by Steve McVey, but a few brain cells must have misfired somewhere along the line. :)

The Most Frequently Taught Law in the Modern Church

My own summary and additional thoughts:
  • The Law commands, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength" and "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." And we've even added our own interpretations to all this, using, for example, the J.O.Y. acronym: "(J)esus First, (O)thers Second, (Y)ourself Last."
  • But Grace says, "In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins." Grace says our love for God and for others isn't based upon trying to keep the commandments to love God and others! It isn't about making a list of "who's Number 1, Number 2, Number 3, etc. Grace says "in Him we live and move and have our being." Grace says, "we are members of Christ and members of each other." Grace says we are "one spirit" with God. Grace says there is One Head and One Body. Our entire being is not a matter of putting Him first and others second. Our entire being is a matter of us being in Him and Him in us - and us being members of each other. We partake in the divine nature!

2 comments:

  1. So true ... that J.O.Y. acronym has always bugged me :)

    Peace...
    ~Heather

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  2. Yeah, I know what you mean. :) I get what people mean by it, and I understand how the concept sounds good, but I think that the idea of "putting Jesus first" actually detracts from the truth that Christ is our life!

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