Foundational Truth
I am not a building expert. I do consider myself a skilled professional in determining the value of buildings, houses and land. I am not an appraiser, but I can do some math regarding the cost of building materials and the cost per square foot. Another thing I’ve learned to look for in determining the value of a building is the “bones” of the building. On a practical note, you can look in the crawl space at the structure as well as the attic and make some determinations about the overall structure. When building anything from the ground up, it’s critical to have a good foundation. There are codes to follow as well as common sense. If the foundation is bad, the whole house will have problems in the future.
Jesus is being grilled by the Pharisees and the Sadducees and other teachers of the law. Since He is the Author of the Law, they had no chance to trip Him up. That didn’t stop them from trying. Check this out….
34 But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees with his reply, they met together to question him again. 35 One of them, an expert in religious law, tried to trap him with this question: 36 “Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?”
37 Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:37-40 NLT)
The entire law really comes down to four words in the English language: Love God – Love Others. That is pretty simple. I didn’t say it was easy, but it is simple. The Lord wants to be first place in my heart. He doesn’t want to become second to anyone or anything. After I get that part right, I’m called to love like He loved. He loves everyone. He sees past the rough exterior right into a person’s heart. He loves those who are hard to love and He calls me to do the same. The foundation of my faith is based on these two simple yet complex commands. I find it easy to love God, but difficult to love others. It is easy to love people who love me and it’s easy to love my wife and children.
It’s hard to love weird people.
It’s hard to love hateful people.
It’s hard to love people who hate me.
It’s hard to love people who hate God.
God didn’t put exceptions on love. He commanded me to love. I am still trying to figure out how to love everyone. I will probably be working on that for a while. I’m learning the more of my heart that He has, the easier it is to love like He loves. I’m also learning that when I realize how much He loves me with all of my sin and stupid choices – my heart for others expands. I really want to put these two simple commands (aka foundational truth) into the very fabric of my life.
Pressing On!
Dwayne