Good Monday morning (3-07-11),

Once people get serious about serving God, many an effort is made to read through the Bible, starting with the book of Genesis. If someone finally makes it through the book of Malachi, it can be easy to incorrectly see God as militant and harsh.

In his writings, The Apostle John settled that confusion once and for all by saying that from the beginning God is love, “He is light, and in Him is no darkness at all.”

John continues in 1^st John by saying, “Beloved, I am writing to you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard.”

I’ll tell you that in the past my ideas as to what “old commandment” John was referring to varied from time to time, but I always figured he was pointing out the disciplines outlined in the only writings he knew, those stories and events we all know so well in the Old Testament.

I once read into those Bible accounts that God tended to be angry with humanity, and that Jesus then came to reveal God’s love temperament, as if He had a two-sided personality. Of course I’m oversimplifying my immature evaluation, one which I would’ve never fessed up to having, but you get the point.

I didn’t know it at the time, but the “old commandment” which John was referring to was a passage familiar to Israel, Leviticus 19. These very scriptures had a major influence on the doctrines Jesus held. From these passages He often quoted when He preached His message of love and forgiveness.

The “old commandment” directed Israel to good deeds by doing such things as leaving food in the fields for the poor. During the harvest, Leviticus 19:9 directed landowners to not strip their vineyards clean and to leave portions of the crops in the field for others in need to gather. This commandment revealed the nature of the God of Israel. He was teaching Israel to love with His kind of giving, divine love.

The old commandment continues by directing Israel not to steal, deal falsely, or lie to or about another. Israel was not to be hateful to its neighbors or rob them. When someone worked for them, they were to be paid in full, quickly. They were to help and support the handicapped, such as the blind and deaf.

Israel was commanded to be fair in any court of law, and she was never to be partial to the rich at the expense of the poor. With righteousness a neighbor was to be judged. Never slander another. Instead, defend and honor the life of any neighbor.

No one was allowed to hate a brother in their heart, but instead, they were to reason frankly with him. Failure to do so would cause them to incur sin. Israel was commanded not to execute revenge or bear a grudge against a brother, “But you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.”

This is what Jesus read and understood when He went into our world with His message of love. He preached and practiced the Old Testament’s ancient message of love and brotherhood, yet the world missed that message altogether. He was the true light of the world, and the world comprehended Him not, being completely blind to the love of God.

God is Love!

It’s been written all along. Right before their (and our) eyes it had always been plain. The “old commandment” has always been, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Jesus fulfilled this old commandment as He loved us all the way to His cross, as now, we are commanded to love others all the way to our cross.

Christians now walk in a new commandment, which is the same as the old, but now we have the power to love from the heart because Christ lives in us.

If we say Christ lives in us we must not bear grudges against another; we must not hate our brother. If we fail to walk in this light, the examples of darkness pointed out by the Old Testament will be our own lot. The ancient, holy writings are examples of a world which rejected the command to love.

If we walk in love, we will treat others at least as well as we do ourselves. We will be fair and impartial to others, no matter how rich or poor they may be, no matter what they have to offer us, or not. Love doesn’t slander but honors and defends others.

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.

We all recognize the above paragraph as a quote from the New Testament, but actually, it’s not altogether new but a restatement of what has always been commanded. It’s just that now we have the Spirit of God, living and dynamic, speaking to our hearts saying, “This is the way, walk in it by my power. Now it’s not you, but Christ in you, the hope of Glory!”

Wayne Witcher.

Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself: I am the LORD. Leviticus 19:8