The secret to immortality
A teacher of the Law came up and tried to trap Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to receive eternal life?” Jesus answered him, “What do the Scriptures say? How do you interpret them?” The man answered, “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind’; and ‘Love your neighbour as you love yourself.’ ” “You are right,” Jesus replied; “do this and you will live.” Luke 10 : 25 - 28 (GNB) |
This week's passage asks the question that humans have been trying to answer for thousands of years: how do I live on forever? Just think of the number of films and stories you have seen which have this question at the very core of the storyline. With the main characters hunting for an elusive or mysterious potion or elixir, scroll or other artefact to enable them to live forever.
However as we see in today's passage there is no magical spell or potion required. The answer is so simple that it had been staring them in the face all along! Even the person asking the question in the passage knew the answer, even before he asked it. But the difficult part isn't knowing the secret to eternal life, but applying it each and every day.
The secret is to love your neighbour as you love yourself. Just to clarify, Jesus explains a bit later in the passage that our neighbour is everyone, not just the family next door!
On the face of it this might seem quite simple and easy to apply. You might be thinking "yeah I am not horrible to anyone, I haven't beat anyone up or stole from them". This is good but is this all that is required for loving someone?
Loving someone extends beyond being nice, to caring for them and supporting them in their time of need. This may be something as simple as sparing a moment to listen to them, giving them a smile or a hug (but I wouldn't suggest that you do this for someone you have just bumped into on the street!)
This week ask God to help you to love all of your neighbours. Also focus on how you can share a little bit more love with each person you bump into this week. As after all love is the route to life! Have a great week.
This weeks song is Unstoppable God by Elevation Worship. |
Header image by: Rebecca Siegel via Flickr