The Secret of Being A Christian Revealed
After much study, prayer, and meditation, I have boiled down the essence of Christianity into two themes. The first I will look into this post, and the second I will save for the next post. Probably by Thursday of next week, but who knows maybe sooner 
Love God
The first half of Christianity, and the most important is to Love. It is that simple, but also that difficult. In Mark 12:30-31, Jesus gives us the two greatest commands. Love the Lord with everything, and Love your neighbor as yourself.
Saying it is simple, applying it is difficult. It is easy to say I love the Lord with all my heart, soul, and mind, but do you really? Looking at my last post, do you love the Lord enough to stay in your unhappy marriage? Do you love him enough to keep your pants on during a dating relationship? These are issues of the heart. Does your heart love your happiness or the Lord more? Does your heart love sexual pleasure or the Lord more?
For parents, do you love the Lord enough to spank your child? (now that is controversial) In my mind, spanking my child seems wrong. So who will I love more, my personal opinion, or the Lord.
Any point in your life where you choose your will over God’s, you are not loving God. It is that simple. Whether it be finances, relationships, parenting, anything that conflicts is a choice against God. So in essence, each time we sin we are violating at least two of God’s commands. One for whatever we are disobeying, and two for not loving the Lord.
Love Others
If Jesus had stopped there, I think most of us could make a good effort towards it. If we humble ourselves, how hard is it to love the creator of the universe? How hard is it to love the one who gives us life? In reality, if we humble ourselves it would not be too hard.
However, Jesus did not stop there. He went on to say that we are to love our neighbor as ourselves, and pretty much described our neighbor as anyone. Now, I can say I love my neighbor, but do I really love them as myself? Lets look at some hypothetical choices we will never have to make, but answer them honestly as if we did. You see, if it came down to it, I would rather have heat in my house than yours. I would be happy to invite you over for dinner, but I would like it to be my house. This will sound cruel, but I rather your kid die than mine. I would rather you get hit by a car than me. I would rather you go bankrupt than me. I would rather you get mauled by a komodo dragon than me.
Our natural tendency is to love ourselves a little bit, or a lot more than our neighbor. Christ flipped that. I need to want to be mauled by a komodo dragon instead of you. Your well being should be just as important to me as my own. I should love you as a love myself. For me, this is the hardest part of Christianity. This is where the rubber meets the road.
Love Your Enemies
Unfortunately, Christ went even further. In Luke 6:27, we are told to love our enemies and to do good to those who hate us. What? This is not right!
When I was in High School, I mentally maintained a ‘black list.’ This was the list of everyone who had wronged me who I must exact vengeance upon. To be honest, some of it was in fun, like the house toilet papering wars we had with some classmates. (ahhh good times) However, there were others on my list that I placed there out of hatred, not good hearted fun. However, this made sense. They had wronged me, so I was justified in putting them on my list. Logical isn’t it?
Then Jesus comes along and switches things around on me. Now I have to love people who are my sworn enemies? The odd thing is, now that I have been loving more, that list has dwindled down to zero. I need to work on getting more enemies so I can practice loving them. I have do good for those who hate me? This list I am not sure the status of, if you are on it, please let me know so I can do good for you.
Once again, looking at my last post, can you love a man who raped you? Do you plead on behalf of the person who stole your care? Are you loving your enemy?
The first half of Christianity is pretty simple isn’t it. Love God. Love Your neighbor. Love your enemy. Why is this important? Because this is how we light the world. In John 13:34-35, Jesus explains that people will know we are his followers by our love for each other. Not by our knowledge of doctrine, not by what activities we refrain from, and not by the fact that we go to church. Those things are the thinks the Church gets their panties in a bunch about. The world will know us by our love, so start loving or I will put you on my ‘black list’
One final thought:
I John 4:7-8 says that if we do not love, we do not know God. It is that simple and that profound. A great love test is to read I Cor. 13 and wherever it says love, insert your own name. How quickly do you have to stop reading because it is no longer true?
Tune in next time for the other half of living out our faith.
Hmmmm I am left wondering if I was on that old “black list” or maybe I was used as a practice ground for the real “black listers”. Ha Ha
nope, there were only about three people on that list and you were not unlucky enough to be on it.
So like I said I was, or should I say my parents yard, was your practice ground!!
Haha, I remember the black list! You’ve grown so much, Kurt!
So, um… who WAS on the black list?
Kate- no you were the fun ones that I have so many fond memories of. We only struck 2 black list members that I can recall.
Becky- no names can be revealed, but the tp strike graduation night was also a fun one. Coming out of your party and seeing the lawn mower tped was one of the funniest moments of my life.
This is a good inquisitive article you have written. I believe Love is the universal answer. To believe, you need to know what Love is and how to love. I do not quote bible verses, because truth doesn’t need proof. Its just there for us to see. Love is the Universal Key, if everyone took on these attitudes, would it be so hard to live? Would it be so hard then to love your neighbor as yourself. I have put myself there and yes protected people or helped people from things. Ever just smile at someone walking on the street or in a store that your shopping at? The reaction is many times a smile back, a smirk, a type of reaction to the smile. So tell me how hard would it be to share the love within, without? I don’t find it that difficult.
Hmm, interesting take on the love thy neighbor/enemy bit. Being agnostic, all I know of the Bible and it’s teaching I pick up from people around me, tv, blog posts like this, etc. Tried reading the actual Bible once, but it was like trying to read “Hamlet” without cliffnotes.
It’s probably a good thing I’m not Christian, as I’d probably fail miserably at it. Or maybe that’s the point, to try even though you’ll fail, since we’re all sinners? Hrm. There’s just no way I could love an enemy, though. Some things just can’t be forgiven, at least not by mortals.
hi..i think love is a great feeling between the involved individuals.i accept most of the things mentioned above.this is not a feeling between human beings it exists between every thing..thank you..
You write “Love God, Love Others and Love Your Enemies,” but I think there is one very important element missing. That’s “Love Yourself.” If you don’t love yourself, then I think it is virtually impossible to love others or love your enemies. Allowing yourself to “love yourself” can be difficult, since you have to give yourself permission to forgive yourself for sins and other indiscretions. God will forgive you, but that’s the easy part. Just my opinion and contribution to an otherwise interesting and thought-provoking message.
My parents were not very involved in the church when I was young, but in my tween years I became an active member of our local Methodist church. The more I learned about some of the teachings in the bible, the more disenchanted I became. I do agree that love is a good portion of being a decent human being, but the bible also says having more than one wife is ok. The Bible approves of slavery in many passages, including beatings and rape. So I have chosen not to use the Bible as my personal guidance of how to be a decent human being.
It’s so true that love is a powerful force, but sometimes it’s hard to remember to love your enemies as well. Thanks for reminding me that love should be universal. I look forward to reading the next post!
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