Second greatest commandment

I've been really thinking about the second greatest commandment as Jesus told us, which is 'to love your neighbor as yourself'.

I've really tried to do this more over the last three years and truthfully it has landed me in a world of heartache. It just seems like people do not know how to really love each other and once you open your heart to someone with love, your heart is open and you are susceptible to great hurt.

I know there is also a verse that says to 'guard your heart because through it flows life'.

So how do you live out this second greatest commandment? How do we guard our heart yet open it in love? What are the consequences to opening our heart and how do we deal with the hurt if our heart get's broken? What about the struggle for forgiveness, if it has really hurt you?

Is this part of what Jesus wants us to learn while we are here?

In actual practice, the "Golden Rule" of "Treat others as you wish others to treat you" is a good out-working of "Love your neighbor as yourself."

I'm not clear as to why that would lead to the sort of heartache you describe... but then again, I'm not always a real sensitive, touchy-feely sort.

Jesus told us to abide in Him John 15:5, we are encouraged to look ever to Jesus to overcome the sins and weights that trip us up Hebrews 12:1-2, to pray about everything so God's peace will flow Phil 4:6-7, and to be mindful of the things of the Spirit Romans 8:5-6

You can only live a life of love as Jesus wishes by committing yourself to Him completely. He didn't redeem us and set us free to want us to go it alone. In fact that's why we have the Holy Spirit, but even then outside of prayer and submission to Him we fail. The flesh is crafty and divisive, it will want revenge when someone wrongs, but cast ALL your care upon Him because He cares for you. So many admonishments to always pray about everything, that is the true source of our strength, prayer.

So my way of doing what is impossible is by praying always. As Wigglesworth said, I never pray longer than 10 minutes but never go longer than 10 minutes without praying. Little things like, Spirit what are you saying and doing right now? Jesus I can not live in a manner that glorifies you unless you help me. Cast yourself completely on Him. He has never failed anyone who does that.

ToBeBlessed said:

I've been really thinking about the second greatest commandment as Jesus told us, which is 'to love your neighbor as yourself'.

I've really tried to do this more over the last three years and truthfully it has landed me in a world of heartache. It just seems like people do not know how to really love each other and once you open your heart to someone with love, your heart is open and you are susceptible to great hurt.

I know there is also a verse that says to 'guard your heart because through it flows life'.

So how do you live out this second greatest commandment? How do we guard our heart yet open it in love? What are the consequences to opening our heart and how do we deal with the hurt if our heart get's broken? What about the struggle for forgiveness, if it has really hurt you?

Is this part of what Jesus wants us to learn while we are here?

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Love..lays down ones own life..
It is not easily hurt.
If we are so concerned with our own hurts....we are still far to self absorbed and are a long way
off knowing what it is to exercise Godly love.
We must always be more concerned with who we may have hurt rather then concerned with who hurt us.

michaelmynameIs said:

Love..lays down ones own life..
It is not easily hurt.
If we are so concerned with our own hurts....we are still far to self absorbed and are a long way
off knowing what it is to exercise Godly love.
We must always be more concerned with who we may have hurt rather then concerned with who hurt us.

Click to expand...

Michael, what you say is true, and yet, it makes us want to say "Who then can love this way?" We see it as impossible, and thus relegate it to a "goal" we can never fulfill, thinking that after three or four decades of trying, we will get better. We will not.

Until we can admit to ourselves that we are not capable of fulfilling either of the two great commandments, we will not be prepared for the path God has made for each one of us. And what is that path? New hearts...new natures that can indeed be so filled with love that we can obey always, that we can turn the other cheek when wronged.

How hard it is for us to see this. The flesh wants us to think we are loving because we love those who love us. But what about those who disagree with us? Or worse yet, attack us, slander us, hurt us emotionally, perhaps financially or even physically? Can we love them just as we do ourselves?

What has happened here lately on the forum is case in point. If we cannot go a day here without seeing post after post that are written, not in love, but in a spirit of "me first", what is that telling us? If we, the ones filled with the Spirit, cannot get along, let alone love one another, do we not see that something is missing in our lives, in our walks with God?

Look at God's people as a whole. We are so divided that the divisions have divisions. Church splits over this doctrine, or that doctrine, or this way of worship, or that way, over what color that carpet in the sanctuary needs to be, it is all...ALL.... due to the old nature, the self nature not being dealt with.

When Jesus met the lame man at the pool of Bethesda and asked him if he would be made whole, it seemed logical that he would say "Sure!". He did not. He saw no hope in his healing because he never could get in the pool fast enough to get the healing when the angel stirred the waters. He was still looking at it from the viewpoint that it was up to him to do it.

How like him we are when told that God will "cause us" to love as He loves. We remain content in our trying and our trying is failing. We are not full of love, neither for God nor man. How hard it is for us to admit it though. We do love God, in measure, but with our WHOLE hearts? Guys, let's be honest here. We do not, for a large part of our heart loves us, loves sin, loves our autonomy far more. As far as loving one another, we are like the pharisees. We love those easy to love, and coincidentally, it is always those who love us.... and even then it is just to a point. But selfless love? Love that esteems others more than ourselves? We all know the answer to that. That kind of love is rare in the church indeed, but it is about to be re-discovered.

When will we see? What we cannot ever do, love selflessly, love with 100% of our hearts, God is willing to cause us to do. He has promised it. So why is the promise not working? Why do we see the church so full of splits, strife and stress? SELF.

Let us finally admit to our God that after all our years of following Him, we still cannot do the two things we need to do. Love God with ALL of our heart. Love our fellow man in the exact same way that we love our own selves. It is this admission, this breaking, this crying out to God for deliverance from the self nature that has gripped us all, that makes our God roll up His sleeves and show us what HE is capable of doing.

After the amazing promise of the new covenant in Ezekiel 36, where God specifically says that He will cause us to walk in true obedience, He says this, and it is at the heart of the message He has for us.

"I shall yet be inquired of by the house of Israel to DO IT FOR THEM."

Is it not that time for us, as we enter the last of the last days? We have tried, and failed to walk out Christ's love because we have thought it was on OUR shoulders to do so. It is not. God is willing, and with great longing, to fill us so full ourselves that the overflow will shock the world and that once again, men will say "Behold how they love one another!" But until we admit we cannot do it, and that He must plant new hearts, new natures in us that can, we will remain as we are and that is far, far from the land of agape, selfless love. It is not optional as we enter the last days. It is, in truth, the one thing necessary.

O Father! Do it for us, dear Lord. Make us holy. Create us anew as vessels that can turn the other cheek seventy times seven if necessary, so that the world will know that you are the God who loves them in the same way you love us. Bring us to the point that possessing this love, this amazing character of Christ, is of more importance to us than our daily bread. Make us hunger and thirst for your righteousness to be seen in us, in our thoughts, in our actions, in the way we speak to and treat one another, so that your name will be glorified among the lost who need you. And Lord, do it quickly so we may honor your name with how we live, and how we love. Amen.

Blessings to all.

Gideon

onlybygrace84 said:

Jesus told us to abide in Him John 15:5, we are encouraged to look ever to Jesus to overcome the sins and weights that trip us up Hebrews 12:1-2, to pray about everything so God's peace will flow Phil 4:6-7, and to be mindful of the things of the Spirit Romans 8:5-6

You can only live a life of love as Jesus wishes by committing yourself to Him completely. He didn't redeem us and set us free to want us to go it alone. In fact that's why we have the Holy Spirit, but even then outside of prayer and submission to Him we fail. The flesh is crafty and divisive, it will want revenge when someone wrongs, but cast ALL your care upon Him because He cares for you. So many admonishments to always pray about everything, that is the true source of our strength, prayer.

So my way of doing what is impossible is by praying always. As Wigglesworth said, I never pray longer than 10 minutes but never go longer than 10 minutes without praying. Little things like, Spirit what are you saying and doing right now? Jesus I can not live in a manner that glorifies you unless you help me. Cast yourself completely on Him. He has never failed anyone who does that.

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Really like what you said here, thank you, encouraging.

Hi,
When were justified by faith we have peace with God, through the Lord Jesus Christ. By faith we access grace where we're able to stand. Then he reveals that the love of God has been shed abroad in our hearts, by the Holy Spirit. It is has been deposited already in us. How do we release it? IMO understanding the atonement will help us to operate in the love of God. Ephesians 5:1-2 speaks of imitating God as children imitate their parents.

It also talks about loving as Christ himself loves. It connects this to Christ's sacrifice at Calvary. Ask the Holy Spirit for understanding.

Grace to you.

Matt 24:
10 And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.
11 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.
12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.


2nd Tim 4:

2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine.
3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;


2nd Thess. 2:3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;


Truth hurts sometimes, but like medicine, is often needed whether we like it or not.



The churchs' greatest enemy ISN'T satan, it's ITSELF. We have been given all authority to tread the enemy underfoot, but when we refuse biblical correction & doctrine, (exhort AND rebuke) when we refuse to take "every thought captive to Christ" (itching ears) and when sin is more precious than truth, (iniquity abound) what do ppl expect?


These aren't judgments from God to the church, these are judgments we have placed UPON OURSELVES b/c we REFUSE to live the way Jesus told us how to live!


And when love goes to the wayside, sadly truth won't be that far behind.


I'm sorry but scripturally, it'll only get worse, not better, based solely on what the bible says.

in first John it is said the perfect love casts out all fear . because my gift is edification or encouragement (and the opposite when i'm running on spiritual empty) i tend to look for alternate translations of words that are "encouraging" and build others up .

the word perfect also can relate to maturity and growth . and as far as we can trust God we can receive him. and as much as we have trust issues .. is how much we will grow in him and through him and him through us .

if you have trust issues . that's very common . that's perhaps why God began the relationship with trust or faith as it is commonly translated from the old language .

God bless .

i'm following all your comments, but what about the 'love your neighbor as yourself'?

What kind of love and how far are we to love as we love ourselves? I know the love of God and walk that walk of faith and am secure in that, but what about people?

Love as we love ourselves. I mean, we know how much we (as carnal human beings) tend to love ourselves. What does God expect as far as 'real love' of others or is it the Golden Rule?

ToBeBlessed said:

i'm following all your comments, but what about the 'love your neighbor as yourself'?

What kind of love and how far are we to love as we love ourselves? I know the love of God and walk that walk of faith and am secure in that, but what about people?

Love as we love ourselves. I mean, we know how much we (as carnal human beings) tend to love ourselves. What does God expect as far as 'real love' of others or is it the Golden Rule?

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i recall a passage that relates that we love because God loved us first . in the same way God loves you . love yourself . and love others .

you may also find this thread helpful in relation to "real love"
http://www.christianforums.com/t7812726/

ToBeBlessed said:

I've been really thinking about the second greatest commandment as Jesus told us, which is 'to love your neighbor as yourself'.

I've really tried to do this more over the last three years and truthfully it has landed me in a world of heartache. It just seems like people do not know how to really love each other and once you open your heart to someone with love, your heart is open and you are susceptible to great hurt.

I know there is also a verse that says to 'guard your heart because through it flows life'.

So how do you live out this second greatest commandment? How do we guard our heart yet open it in love? What are the consequences to opening our heart and how do we deal with the hurt if our heart get's broken? What about the struggle for forgiveness, if it has really hurt you?

Is this part of what Jesus wants us to learn while we are here?

Click to expand...

Threads like this make me nervous, not that we shouldn't love one another, but when the act of doing so is setup as a point of the Law, and then the basic question becomes 'how do you keep this particular point of the law'.

This is very difficult to me because humanly speaking, I am 100% gentile and have never been under the law. Never, ever, not a single point of it for any moment of time. Therefore, to present it purely as a commandment of the law, is to actually say that loving others doesn't apply to me, which as a non-Jew, that would be accurate, but as a believer it would not because similar commands were given in the covenant of which I am part.

If I attempt to do such things with the intent of keeping this commandment of the Law, I am placing myself under a law I have no part in, and as Paul states in Galatians 3, I am also placing myself under a curse.

So you want to talk about loving others, that's good, we should be doing so, but please take it out of the context of striving to keep the law, and into the commands of how we, as believers not under the law, are told we should conduct ourselves towards others.

i tend to look at it as something that founds the law but is not the law or a law . it exists regardless of the current prophetic status of the law being replaced by Jesus as the basis for prophetic utterance . the observance of law is over . the fulfillment of law and the superseding of the observatory form of righteousness is what is now .

The simplest answer is the Golden Rule as we call it. Love others, even your enemies, as you love yourself an treat them as you would want to be treated. That is only possible with help though.

Michael Collum said:

i tend to look at it as something that founds the law but is not the law or a law . it exists regardless of the current prophetic status of the law being replaced by Jesus as the basis for prophetic utterance . the observance of law is over . the fulfillment of law and the superseding of the observatory form of righteousness is what is now .

Click to expand...

And that's good, but the title of the thread, "Second greatest commandment" should bring to mind the conversation Jesus had with the Sadducees in Matthew 22 where they asked Him which is the greatest commandment of the law. So, when it is discussed as the second greatest commandment, it is being discussed as a point of the law.

Faulty said:

Threads like this make me nervous, not that we shouldn't love one another, but when the act of doing so is setup as a point of the Law, and then the basic question becomes 'how do you keep this particular point of the law'.

This is very difficult to me because humanly speaking, I am 100% gentile and have never been under the law. Never, ever, not a single point of it for any moment of time. Therefore, to present it purely as a commandment of the law, is to actually say that loving others doesn't apply to me, which as a non-Jew, that would be accurate, but as a believer it would not because similar commands were given in the covenant of which I am part.

If I attempt to do such things with the intent of keeping this commandment of the Law, I am placing myself under a law I have no part in, and as Paul states in Galatians 3, I am also placing myself under a curse.

So you want to talk about loving others, that's good, we should be doing so, but please take it out of the context of striving to keep the law, and into the commands of how we, as believers not under the law, are told we should conduct ourselves towards others.

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I think you're forgetting context here Faulty.

The whole purpose of the original 10 commandments, (which you're right, was for Jews solely) wasn't for being kept, but rather to show the need for a Savior in the first place.

The two "new" commandments that Jesus gave, (which clearly had elements of the original 10) can't be kept either EXCEPT by HIS spirit. (Agape love) Morever, these two new commandments DO include gentiles, and all men whom God draws to Himself.

The new creation can do what the old man can't, and when we can't, that's where God's grace comes into play. (At least that's how I see it)

Faulty said:

Threads like this make me nervous, not that we shouldn't love one another, but when the act of doing so is setup as a point of the Law, and then the basic question becomes 'how do you keep this particular point of the law'.

This is very difficult to me because humanly speaking, I am 100% gentile and have never been under the law. Never, ever, not a single point of it for any moment of time. Therefore, to present it purely as a commandment of the law, is to actually say that loving others doesn't apply to me, which as a non-Jew, that would be accurate, but as a believer it would not because similar commands were given in the covenant of which I am part.

If I attempt to do such things with the intent of keeping this commandment of the Law, I am placing myself under a law I have no part in, and as Paul states in Galatians 3, I am also placing myself under a curse.

So you want to talk about loving others, that's good, we should be doing so, but please take it out of the context of striving to keep the law, and into the commands of how we, as believers not under the law, are told we should conduct ourselves towards others.

Click to expand...

I don't see it as part of the law. We know that Jesus fulfilled the law and it was Jesus who designated these two commandments as being the most important and that they fulfilled the law.

Why do you consider this to be part of the law?

michaelmynameIs said:

Love..lays down ones own life..
It is not easily hurt.If we are so concerned with our own hurts....we are still far to self absorbed and are a long way
off knowing what it is to exercise Godly love.
We must always be more concerned with who we may have hurt rather then concerned with who hurt us.

Click to expand...

I wouldn't press the green above too much. The OP talks about opening up her heart, and getting hurt, that is exactly what hurt Paul said, as he wrote his tearful letter. He was open hearted, but suffered for it.


2 Cor 2:4 For I wrote to you out of much affliction and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to cause you pain but to let you know the abundant love that I have for you.


6:11 We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians; our heart is wide open.

When ever anyone asks me to sum up Christian practice, this is what I say ("Love The Lord your God with all your heart and soul and love your neighbour as yourself"), so this topic is very close to my heart.

I feel like I have had an amazing transformation that makes giving love easy... as if giving love is a gift from our Father. My conversion was a "road to Damascus" moment... One minute I was a very depressed, angry, unwell woman believing she had nothing to live for the next, I was healed, and oozing with joy, light and truth. A miracle. When I awoke the following day, it was like having a new set of eyes. I looked around me and could see so much beauty. Everywhere and in everyone. We are made in the image of God, and we are all very good. I looked at people that had hurt me in the past and could see them for what they are... What we all are... Broken, and in need of our Father's love. How can I not love them when I know I am so loved? God's love is infinite... It simply doesn't fit inside me, so I must share it, and sharing it brings me a joy that I cannot express. On the other hand, the pain of seeing people suffer is almost too much to take. God's love comes hand in hand with God's compassion. I can't even watch charity adverts or the news without feeling a groaning ache all the way through my body. I get something similar when I see people reject love when it offered to them... It breaks my heart. The only thing I can do in these scenarios is pray. I find that in prayer, God fills me with peace, reminds me that I am so loved, and how glorious His love really is... It is His love that I am giving after all, not mine. My love is woefully inadequate. When I feel personally wounded from trying to love... Well, for me.. I pray for forgiveness... Both for me and for God to help me forgive whoever has wounded me. Even if the person that I feel wounded by hasn't repented. This is how Christ loves us. He died so that all can be forgiven. Moreover, through forgiveness, one lets go of pain. Indeed, in my experience, if it still hurts, it isn't forgiven. This is how I love... Through God, and only God. Alone, it is impossible. I am a broken human being that still very much needs the love of our Father. It is impossible for me to love this way without Him. This still comes with its share of heartache, but I find that this heartache is less personal and more compassion for creation.

This is a very experiential response... I'm sorry if you were looking for something more specifically scriptural (I can respond in this way too if you think it would be helpful?).

Hi Faulty,
Totally agree with your break down of scripture. We speaking as the body of Christ were never placed under the law. Paul in Romans 13:8-10 explains how love is to function, amongst brethren, and people not in the church. He does use though, love thy neighbor as thyself. Then adding, love worketh no I'll to his neighbor: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. Going back to something I posted earlier, God's love has already been shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.

Grace to you.