Love #1

'You shall not hate your brother in your heart... ...you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.

'And if a stranger dwells with you in your land, you shall not mistreat him. 'The stranger who dwells among you shall be to you as one born among you, and you shall love him as yourself; for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.

Leviticus 19:17-18, 19:33-34, www.solascriptura.com

Dear God, Jesus taught us that there are two commandments that encompass the 10 commandments and they are not hard to learn: Love God with all of your heart, mind and soul and love your neighbor as yourself.

Here in Leviticus we find that Jesus was quoting Moses and of course You told Moses what to say. It is so helpful to us Father when the Old and New Testament shed light upon each other.

Our problem, Father, is not in not knowing what You expect, but it is in fulfilling Your expectations. We have learned that You will require evidence of how we showed our love to You and to our neighbors. The wonderful truth is that when we failed to meet your commandments, before we had our record of sin expunged by Jesus, our failure will not be held against us.

Now that we have confessed our sins and been cleansed of them, we are creating a new record. Give us wisdom, discernment and Your grace to love You and others in a new way, Your way. We pray these things in Jesus' name, amen.

Bruce Caldwell