Continuity of Love

"The Second Mile"  

Yesterday I posted about biblical continuity and gave an example of seeing God. I did forget to mention Genesis 3:8, where Adam and Eve had walked with God in the cool of the day – but couldn’t on that one day after eating THE fruit. Now, instead of tending a garden as they did, we are to follow instructions, of which “love” shows a continuity throughout the Bible:

For the LORD your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty, and a terrible, which regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward: He doth execute the judgment of the fatherless and widow, and loveth the stranger, in giving him food and raiment. Love ye therefore the stranger: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt. Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God; him shalt thou serve, and to him shalt thou cleave, and swear by his name. (Deuteronomy 10:17-20 KJV)

They may not look as we do, talk as we do, eat what we are used to. They are strangers to us, but our Lord sees them as the neighbors we are to love, or the strangers we meet. I’ve used Journey With The Messiah graphics (with permission) in years past. These coming holidays always bring that website and their message to mind.

“The Second Mile” – my blog from July 27, 2010 - eleven years ago I wrote:

I have struggled with this since I saw “The Second Mile.” I want to be able to walk with my Lord and follow His example. I believe He would have given his cloke, and that He would have walked that second mile, speaking to His follow traveler of God’s love.
Yet I draw back at the thought of doing so. Not just from the thought of those long ago Nazi soldiers, but of people today. People whose thoughts are not only far from God’s love, but whose actions oppose God’s laws and the people who love Him. Is it because I fear them? He tells me not to.

And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. [Matthew 10:28 KJV]

The word “Nazi” has been abused in the last ten years to the point that it has been applied to our physical neighbors. To the real people Jesus described in Matthew 22:34-40. A similar situation, where the lawyer asked Jesus “And who is my neighbor? “ He answered in Luke 10:25-37.

That’s not the only pejorative word people have used incorrectly. Nor is ours the only nation where words have been applied with hate filled fervor. Nor where physical assault accompanied such words. Nor where the original meaning has been forgotten.

Open your mind to a symbolic person you would hate the most. One that you never want to meet or speak to under any circumstances. Then look at today’s graphic replace the Nazi soldier with that person – and realize that Jesus is just as concerned about that person’s soul as He is whosoever’s:

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16 KJV)

We’ve been told what happens if we believe, and what happens if there was/is/will be one that never believes:

He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. (John 3:18 KJV)

When we believe, we must tell others. We must share what we know, where we found it, what it means in our own lives, and where it can be found for themselves. When having trouble remembering, Jesus promised us help:

But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. (John 14:26 KJV)

All we need to do is ask Him to help us remember:

A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. (John 13:34-35 KJV)