The Law of Christ: Law of Love

The Exhortation to the Apostles (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

"... we find that the law of love is the basis of all the instruction given by Christ and his Apostles. They often mentioned details which would not have occurred to us, but the details are all strictly related to the fundamental principle presented in the law through Moses and stated by Christ to be the foundation of his teaching: the whole-hearted love of God, and the self-sacrificing love of man.

The Lord Jesus gave a new impetus and even a new significance to the old command. Some disciples have been puzzled by his saying: "A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another" (John 13:34). In view of the fact that this law was so old and Christ had emphasized its fundamental character, why did he call it new? It is easy to find the answer to this question, and when found it becomes perhaps the most moving and searching of all thoughts for disciples.

The Mosaic law commanded that a man should love the Lord his God with all the heart, soul and strength, and that he should love his neighbour as himself; but these were not, and could not be, the laws by which a man could be judged before any merely human tribunal. The feelings and thoughts of a man's mind cannot be assessed correctly by a human judge. The law courts of mortal men can only judge in a negative manner. That was inevitably true in the old dispensation, and so a man who in no way injured his neighbours was legally correct in his social behaviour, even though wrong feelings were in his heart and wrong thoughts in his mind. Human judges were guided by the sight of their eyes and the hearing of their ears. Christ is under no such limitations. Even in the days of his flesh he knew what was in man, and needed not that any should tell him. When he comes as the ruler of mankind, he will not judge after the sight of his eyes or the hearing of his ears. With an all-penetrating knowledge, he will look into the heart of a man, and judge him by what he really is, and not what he appears to be. For us to be acceptable disciples this law of love must be in our hearts. There must be not merely an outward show of piety, but the reality of love for God, not merely a formal show of solicitude for a neighbour's welfare, or conventional acts of charity, but a real love of man. The Lord will look into our inmost being, and require that the reality of love shall be there."

- Islip Collyer
-------
The Law of Love
What it Means to be a Christian

 +++
2013 update:

 

Related articles

• A Disciple of Jesus Christ
• The Seed Bears Fruit According to its Kind - Sexagesima Sermon (edited) (2013)
• Sermon: Luke 12:4-7 - Proper Fear
• Love the Lord Your God With All Your Heart and With All Your Soul and With All Your Mind
• Cart Before the Horse
• Pointing the Shamed to Christ - -Feet First by Winston Smith
• Saturday: Mar. 16
• Romans 8: Life in the Spirit..., God's Everlasting Love
• Business as usual?
• Holiness Teachings: ATTRIBUTES OF HOLINESS - ATTRIBUTES OF HOLINESS - LOVE TO MAN - B.T. Roberts

It is Today

It is Today

Today has come as yesterday
we said if our Lord still tarries,
then during the daylight hours
yet for some
in the darkness of night,
to His Judgement seat
we have been borne.
And in the midst of a great multitude gathered
I seem to stand alone
waiting for my name to be spoken
by the righteous Judge.
It is today.

Yet sometimes I am distracted
in this waiting,
and from the reflections of my past
as I watch as others are granted
the prize, eternal life.
Still more and more distractions and
then on seeing some
who have slept
within the earthy bowels
awaiting trumpet sound.
Was I at times reproachful
of those who'd run their race?
In the Judge's mind
they yet now have
received their immortal place.
It is today.

Another in the midst of the throng
I had not seen for years.
What was his name, I can't recall
and ponder why he left.
A lonely man who found God's truth
then oft times more alone
and 'though this pearl of great price he found
not so with those "in Christ".
And hearsay among some brethren
had I ever played a part
a destructive little past time
which human nature loves.
And those who longed to be a part
did I yet cast aside, and considered them not worthy
to be in company of the bride.
It is today.

And the brethren that offended me
did I put this in the past
and forgiven and forgotten
or harboured till this day.
Did I rejoice in things of beauty
the preaching of His word
to all the world around us
the coming of our Lord.
And on and on I go
with reflections of the past
of circumstance that may have changed
or no, it just won't be.
Pardon? My name has been called
I must stand before His seat, the righteous Judge,
probation is now past.
It is today.
-------
1999 Kay McGrath