Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Two Sides of the Same Coin

from Psalm 82:3-4

Give justice to the poor and the orphan;
uphold the rights of the oppressed and the destitute.
Rescue the poor and helpless;
deliver them from the grasp of evil people


This past Sunday my husband preached on Love God/Love Neighbor. The text was the Good Samaritan and he talked about the need for us to follow the command of Jesus that summed up the whole law -- Love God, and Love your Neighbor as yourself.

I have been reading A Whole in Our Gospel lately which is more on this theme.

The point is this: If we love God we will do things like take care of the poor -- rescuing them and giving justice. We will take care of orphans and deliver others from evil. It just happens. It's not a choice. We do not do all this stuff to earn God's approval or love, we do it as an automatic outflow of our relationship with God. And that's a good good thing. If we are in right relationship with God the people around us benefit. Period.

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