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36 CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX “To will one thing”: Section 2

The Core Message and goal for your life

For all of the complications, the core of the Christian faith is really simple.

Jesus affirmed that the greatest commandment is that you should love God with all your heart and that the second, like it, is that you should love your neighbor as yourself (see Danny Gokey’s song, Love God Love People)—and then he told the story of the Good Samaritan to show that even those you dislike are your neighbors. (Samaritans were a particularly interesting choice, since they were actually descendants of Joseph, son of Jacob/Israel—they were Israelites too!! Sometimes loving those with whom you share history can be hardest.) Building on that second commandment, Jesus emphasized particularly that his followers should love each other — that the world will know his disciples by the way they love one another.

Unfortunately, each of us fails in living up to these two greatest commandments regularly, and our failure separates us from each other and from God. And so God came to earth in the form of his son to teach, serve as a model, and reconcile us to him if we are willing, as stated in John 3:16, the simplest statement of the Christian faith: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

So the goal of the Christian is to continually and earnestly seek to become closer to God by becoming more like Jesus as informed by prayer and studying the Bible. It’s really that simple—as Danish philosopher and religious writer Søren Kierkegaard wrote, “Purity of Heart is to Will One Thing.”

As part of doing that, we are called to see God in every part of creation, but particularly in every person we see. We need to earnestly try to actually see Jesus in every person: Jesus makes that clear when describing the final judgement, during which the blessed are told, “whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” We are called to be God’s hands and feet in the world and to see Jesus in everyone we meet—even the “Samaritans.” And serving those less fortunate has always been understood to be an important part of that:

Proverbs 14:31— “Whoever oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God.”

We need to care for people in ways that meet their needs. As one of my sons has pointed out, the Golden Rule, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” which is related to that second great commandment of loving your neighbor as yourself, needs to be thought of as doing unto others as you would think they would like to be done unto them. For example, I like it when people stand outside and wave at me as I’m backing out and driving away—it makes me feel loved and like they will miss me. But I have relatives who don’t like to be watched while driving—especially while backing out of the driveway. So when they are leaving, I say goodbye at the door and go back to whatever I was doing inside the house. Another example: Some people are “morning people” and some are not—the former peppering the latter with conversation first thing in the morning, however friendly, encouraging, and “loving,” will not be felt as loving by the latter. The Golden Rule requires customized behavior based on the preferences of the individuals—and not application of our preferences to everyone else. 


Sections in this chapter:

  • The heart of faith
  • The core message and goal for your life
  • Seeking to trust God and become more like Jesus
  • Knowing your role—and God’s
  • Fruit of the Spirit
  • Managing our priorities
  • And our praise
  • Identity, the creeds, and unity
  • The struggle of finding and holding faith
  • Ultimate truth
  • Faith must be our own
  • Levels and types of faith
  • Faith vs. knowledge
  • Faith and the Law and Works
  • Free Will and The Fall
  • Seeking to understand the Bible and life through discernment
  • The challenge of discernment
  • Handling different discernments
  • "Our own words"
  • Exploring challenging passages and ideas
  • The importance of prayer
  • Personal reflections
  • The importance of living the life
  • It’s not too late

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