Daily Devotional: 5/19/2018 - AMOR

"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." John 13:34-35

I was listening to a sermon by the man, the myth, and the legend Dr. Ravi Zacharias. Ravi talked about how in the Bible there was a teacher of the law that went up to Jesus and he asked what is the greatest commandment (Mark 12:28-31) . The teacher could not win when he asked the question about the taxes (Mark 12:13-17) when he tried going with God versus Caesar, so he went law against law (Jesus versus Moses). If you ever read the Old Testament, you know about all the laws and the rules that Moses laid out for the Israelites. He laid out 613 laws, David reduced it to 15, Isaiah reduced it to 6, Micah reduced it to 3, and than Jesus finally reduced it to 2. All 613 laws that Moses laid out hang on the two that Jesus gave. I was once told that the Bible is the greatest love letter ever written, and it is a love letter written right to us. God wrote all these words, rules, law, and stories for us; he wrote them through all these authors in order for us to know how to live the best life we can live. That is a life lived through Jesus. To go along with this the one of the central themes of the Bible is love. It is something even from the beginning in Genesis that was told and talked about. Love is something that Jesus constantly preached and showed during his entire ministry. One thing that was told multiple times and in multiple different ways, by both Jesus, the apostles, and the prophets is that we have to and we should love everyone. We have to love everyone, we have to love them no matter who they are, what they do and what they believe. One of the old laws of the Old Testament is that we have to love our neighbor (Leviticus 19:18). This law was brought up during Jesus ministry when a teacher of the law asked him who our neighbor is. Jesus gave one of the most influential and eye opening parable, and that is the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37).  A Philistine was the person who asked Jesus this questions, so it is only appropriate that Jesus made a Samaritan a good guy. Philistines and the Samaritans hated each other, think Yankees and Red Sox. This parable talked about how to be more neighborly. We are all neighbors, and we do not get to choose who are neighbors are; they are all around us. The neighbor shows mercy and shows love. This is what we have to do, we have to do like the wise. Howard Thurman once said that there are three things that hold us back, that is fear, deception, and hate; the only thing that can defeat all three is love, and love is Jesus. HappyGivers created an apparel line call the "Love Thy Neighbor Collection" (https://thehappygivers.com/collections/love-thy-neighbor-collection). They have clothes that said, Love Thy… homeless, Muslim, black, gay, immigrant, Christian, Jewish, Atheist, Addicted… Neighbor. This shows that love has, and should not have, no boundaries. We live in a dark world that is full of hate. There is nothing that is more powerful than being the anomaly, and that is showing love. When someone respond with hate you have to respond with love. You should never respond hate with hate, two wrongs do not make one right. Sometimes you have to put yourself in their shoes. Someone that is giving out hate they may be having a bad day, something could have happened, not have had their morning coffee yet, or honestly they could just be a hateful person (cannot help that). We all have bad day, we are not perfect, sometimes we just need that one compliment or smile. Smiles are contagious, some of the most beautiful features of a person is their smile. Everyone is much happier when they smile, it is impossible to be mad or angry when you are smiling. Actions speak louder than words. Sometimes if you carry a loving persona it will be contagious and they are going to want to know how you do it. Simply it is Jesus. If they do not know who Jesus they are going to want to know more about you and then eventually Jesus. Days are a lot better when you have a loving and happy person around you. Jesus was the perfect example of loving everyone. He never turned down anyone, he was willing to help everyone that accepted it. He stepped out of the "law" and the norms to love people like no one ever loved and will love before. Jesus healed on the Sabbath, he talked to the sick, women, Samaritans, etc. We have to follow his example, we have to love everyone. We have to be the light to this dark hateful world, be the light in someone's day. Smile and make people smile, it is very contagious. Love is the most powerful weapon in our arsenal, and it is the easiest to use. Be the anomaly, spread love and the good news. Pray for others, it builds your love for others and it builds your relationship with them. But most importantly is builds your relationship with God. 

Lord, thank you for the love you show us and continue to show us. I pray that you give us the strength to be able to show the same love. Give us the strength and courage to give love in the darkness of the world. Love is the most powerful thing is the world, allow us to show your light and love to everyone. Love defeats hate, and you showed us how. I pray all this is Jesus's loving amazing name, Amen.

#LetsBeAMovement