Do This and You Will Live

 


Several years ago, when Facebook and social media were just beginning, I remember seeing a post where someone was blasting a local restaurant for a bad experience they had. I can't remember whether the food was bad, the service was slow, or what the issue was, but one thing I definitely remember is that the original post claimed that the restaurant needed to be put out of business. This kind of post was not new, but I remember thinking about how extreme everyone was becoming because of the internet. In the days before social media, if you had a bad experience with a business, you would probably tell your closest friends and family, and the business might have lost a few customers over a simple mistake.

Today's extremist attitude has become so common that it has a name: "cancel culture." If you don't like something, you try to have it cancelled. The worst part of the problem is that so many people generate untruths with the sole intention of getting someone or something cancelled. I don't know how much truth there was in the original post about the local restaurant, but I do know that my family has visited that restaurant many times with no problems, and the restaurant has continued to stay in business. I often think about the devastating affect that social media post could have caused for the family who owns the business.

Today, it is even harder to know what is true, especially on social media, and it seems like everyone is determined that if you don't agree with them, then they don't want to have anything to do with you. On January 6, 2021, I watched the news coverage of the attack on our Capitol building, and I was so upset over the state of our country that I wrote about it on Facebook. My opinion caused several of my friends to get into a heated argument online that resulted in me losing contact with some good people. It seemed like civil discussion was thrown out the window because everyone felt like they had to be right.

Jesus was tested many times, and when a lawyer asked him what did he have to do to get eternal life, Jesus turned the question back on the lawyer. The lawyer answered that you must love God with all your heart, soul, and strength and love your neighbor as yourself. I love the clear, simple response that Jesus gave him:
"You’ve answered correctly," He told him. "Do this and you will live."
It cannot get any easier than that. First, we must love God, then we must love each other. The world we live in can't seem to get either one of those correct, and strangely enough, there seem to be a lot of people who feel like it has to be one or the other. On one hand, there are people who claim to love God, but spew hate to one another. On the other hand, there are people who appear to love each other, but don't believe they need God.

I have thought many times about how unloving people have become toward one another, especially people who are not exactly like themselves. It is heartbreaking to me because 1 John 4:8 tells me
"The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love."
Loving one another is NOT optional. You cannot love God and not love your neighbor. Jesus says you have to do both to live.

Heavenly Father, I thank you for the simplicity of what it takes to inherit eternal life. I pray that you guide me to love you with all my heart, soul, and strength, and I pray that you help me to love others as myself. Most of all, I pray that you help me to do both and live eternally in a way that honors you. In the eternal name of Jesus I pray, Amen.

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