SUNDAY NIGHT WITH EKURWE
31 July 2022
Luke 10:25-28
“On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?” 27 He answered:” ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ 28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.” (NIV)
Welcome to part three of the exposition series on this all-important question- WHAT MUST I DO TO INHERIT ETERNAL LIFE? As we mentioned, this question is not only for Christians but all humanity. The expert in the law was knowledgeable indeed; the answer was correct and was given by God through His servant Moses a long time ago in Deuteronomy 6:4-6;
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts.” (NIV)
God demands that you love Him with your whole being: heart, soul, and might. It means that He wants your totality and your maximum attention. Anything that takes your love and attention away from God becomes your idol. Some have allowed money, job, marriage, clothes, pleasure, and other ephemeral valuables of the world to fill their heart and soul. Some use all their resources on earthly things, forgetting to feed their heart and soul with the Word of God. Therefore, to love Him entails involving Him in everything you do–that is what it means to love Him with all your heart.
We established that to inherit the kingdom of God; you must surrender your affection and will to God, let Him lead in all you do, and let His glory be your sole motivation. How deep is your love for God and others? Love for God and fellow humans is a requisite for heirs of the kingdom of God. No one will love the Lord for real, and it will not trickle down to fellow humans. God is love, and He is a God of relationship. When He loves us, He expects us to reciprocate the same gesture. The vertical relationship with God must give rise to the horizontal with your fellow humans. When we find it difficult to love and relate with our fellow humans, we need a check on our connection with God, who is love Himself. Christ in John 13:34-35 says; “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (NIV)
How do we love others? What are the motivations for such love? Motive is everything– when the motive is not because of Christ, it is not love that is fitting to the demands of God. Do we love only those that loved us, people connected to us in a way, or people we can benefit from? Do we love only our friends or those who are unfriendly to us? Do we compartmentalize our love or selective in our relationship? Is your motive about you or Christ and His glory? When our Christianity is about ourselves, either for recognition or personal gain, it can not be the accepted prototypical for the kingdom. Let us reflect and evaluate how our love for others has been, as it is a determinant for eternal life with God.
1 Corinthians 13:13 says, “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”
Please take a tour with us every Sunday as we go together on this all-important topic. You must love to inherit the kingdom of God, as faith and hope are not enough.
Keep a date with us next Sunday.
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