"Thou shalt not
avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt
love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD."
Leviticus 19:18
In this season of
giving it is of the utmost importance that we remember what God has given us as
well as the command He issued regarding loving our neighbor… In reading today’s
focus verse taken from the Mosaic Law I am reminded of the question posed to
Jesus in the 10th chapter of the gospel of Luke which states who is my neighbor? In referring to this verse it is imperative
that we understand the meaning of the word neighbor and how it relates to us
today… Everyone that we come in contact with is our neighbor, the person who
lives next to us is our neighbor, the person we see on the street begging is
our neighbor and (whether we want to accept it or not) the person who betrays
us is our neighbor… We cannot be selective when it comes to our neighbor and
Moses conveys the message to the house of Israel from the very mouth of the
Lord… As a Christian, the biggest way that we demonstrate our Christianity is
in our display of love towards others… The word of God declares that God is love… This is important to note
because love has to be a part of us if we are a child of God for without love
being present there is no way that we are of God and therefore cannot walk in
His will… Understanding the foundation that love provides is essential to our
walk and this is why Moses starts off by saying, Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy
people… You have to display Christ beyond the Saturday or Sunday Worship
service, Christ has to be living through you beyond your weekly prayer or bible
study classes… Your relationship with
God will be shown to others through your interaction with those who have
wronged or offended you… As we prepare for Christmas celebrations this
Tuesday and wrap gifts, let us remember not only the greatest gift we have ever
received but let us also remember the greatest gift that we can give… The book
of Leviticus starts off this particular verse by saying, “Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge
against the children of thy people…”We must remember that the greatest gift that we can give is the
gift of love… The bible records that “God is love…”So when we extend love to our fellowman we are depositing the
gift of God Himself into their lives and this is the greatest gift that we have
to offer… So often I hear people say, “I love you”; however, I have sought for
the past several years to understand what that really means… The book of
Leviticus gives us some meaning today when it says that we should not avenge… When we love, we look beyond, we see
through and we help in spite of…
The Christmas season
provides opportunity for the Christian believer to put Christ on display for
all to see and not just a decorated tree or arrangement of Christmas lights…
You have to be about the things of Christ everyday of your life and He stated
very clearly that He came to seek and
save that which was lost… In order to recoup that which was lost, Christ
had to go in search of that which was missing which required Him to travel
uncharted waters… This same principle applies to us, we must go beyond our
comfort zone, we must do more than the norm and enter the most darkest and loneliest
of places…This is not to boast or be recognized, this is simply walking in the
love that Moses refers to and Christ demonstrated… We are not referring to the
worldly meaning of love but rather true
and pure love… This simply means that true love (being the very form of
God) doesn’t keep us from helping but actually allows us to help at a deeper
level despite what the person has done or is doing… When you give your emotions over to retaliation and don’t extend a hand
of kindness than the love you claim isn’t really present… There are so many
people in the world today bearing grudges against another and this not only causes
chaos amongst them, but it also puts your heart in a vulnerable state to be
infiltrated or occupied by things that are not of God… This also speaks the
true form of love in that love cast out fear which will keep you from
depositing things that are not of God into your mind and heart… Not only are we
called to not hold a grudge, but the book of Leviticus (written by Moses) also
tells us that, “…thou shalt love thy
neighbor as thyself…” This process of love
is two-fold… We must first be able to overcome the mindset to hold a grudge,
than we must transform our way of thinking so that we can extend a hand of love
instead of extending a hand to slap the person in the face… Seasons greeting to
all! Love your enemies and pray for those who despitefully us you… These are
words to live by as Christ was the ultimate example of not holding a grudge; He
did not keep record of failures or keep a tally of our shortcomings nor did He
avenge the evil decisions that we gave or daily give into… He laid down His
life on the cross, paid the ransom for our sins not because of a promise me
made to pay Him back or tears that we cried to appeal to His heart… He made this sacrifice and paid this price
because HE LOVED US… It’s time we do the same!!!
BE BLESSED!!!
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