LOVE FOR GOD FUELS LOVE FOR NEIGHBOR
"“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 first commandment."" - Matthew 22:36-38
When asked the question "What is the greatest commandment?" Jesus said to love God above everything and love your neighbor as yourself.
When Jesus gave this answer, he was actually quoting what Moses told the Israelites way back in Deuteronomy 6 when God gave him the 10 commandments. But what is the reason we now have to love God more than anyone or anything else today?
The motivation for everything we do in life is love for the Lord and the desire to bring Him the glory and honor He is due.
WHO IS MY NEIGHBOR?
"You shall love your neighbor as yourself." - Mark 12:31
You may have noticed in the paragraph above that in the Gospels, when the man asked Jesus this one important question, "What is the greatest commandment?", Jesus gave a two-part answer. Jesus said to love God above everything and love your neighbor as yourself. These commands go hand-in-hand.
In St. Louis, it's very likely your neighbors are immigrants or refugees. It is hard to love your neighbor if you don't know them and can't understand them.
God's love for foreigners isn't just a New Testament concept. In Leviticus 19:33-34 He says,
“When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God."
We want the church to be a powerful force for Christ, fully loving Him, and holistically loving the nations who are now a part of our community.
Have you noticed?
Look around and you will see.
There are new people down the street that look like they're from another country. Your son has a new friend at school who lived in a refugee camp. You saw a new international grocery store that opened near your office. Immigrants are everywhere in St. Louis.
They are your coworkers. They are your children's classmates. They shop where you shop. They own your favorite restaurants. They exercise next to you at the gym. They are your neighbors.
And you live where you live for a reason.
"And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us," - Acts 17:26-27
So What Should You Do?
Our foreign-born friends are trying to make their way in an entirely new culture cut off from family and friends and everything upon which one would typically build a life. You have an opportunity to walk with them as an encouragement and support as they journey towards realizing the fullest expression of God’s design for their lives.
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