February; Month of Love?
Matthew 22:39 "And a second like unto it is this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself."
"But he, desiring to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbor? Jesus made answer and said, A certain man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho; and he fell among robbers, who both stripped him and beat him, and departed, leaving him half dead. And by chance a certain priest was going down that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. And in like manner a Levite also, when he came to the place, and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he was moved with compassion, and came to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring on them oil and wine; and he set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And on the morrow he took out two shillings, and gave them to the host, and said, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, I, when I come back again, will repay thee. Which of these three, thinkest thou, proved neighbor unto him that fell among the robbers? And he said, He that showed mercy on him. And Jesus said unto him, Go, and do thou likewise." (Luke 10:29-37 ASV)
Look around in times of trial, be it floods, hurricanes, or even wild fires in the west. We see images of fire fighters, police, paramedics helping during these times, but something unique that we also see? The common folks across this nation of all nationalities going beyond the call of duty to help strangers they don't even know.
I didn't come from a religious household. For some reason my grandparents appeared to be on a path to prove that you could be 'good without going to church'.
We were taught (mostly by example) to be good neighbors—especially to the good neighborly neighbors. That meant doing good unto your neighbors. We also were to do at least one good deed a day, and--somehow we were to do our good deeds in a way that the right hand didn't know what the left hand was doing.
I could be funny here, but some things all of us over the age of youth understand? It's extremely easy at my age to do many things in that manner. You know, the manner in which the right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing? We kind of laugh, but there are days when it's funnier than other days.
This is a February post about love/ing one another, so imagine away the idea of 'A Happy Christmas' from the picture above. Remember Jesus' teachings are timeless and boundless. We often think of 'Church' as a building when 'Church' is ultimately embodied in His believers who take His teachings into our hearts and share as we travel through our pilgrimage here on earth.
My dear grandparents had an erroneous view of both being good, and going to church. When a person does good deeds they are mirroring a good God, but we ourselves no matter how 'good' we try to be will fall short. You can do good deeds all day long till the cows come home, but never be 'good enough'.
We can't and don't earn our salvation. Only one person was perfect enough to be offered as that sacrifice.
We (believers) come together on the first day of the week. That was set in scriptural example; to partake of the unleavened bread and fruit of the vine, listen to scripture, pray and sing Psalms and hymns. We are built up for the week, as we come together as the church most often in a church building.
