November
15, 2003
WHAT
SHALL I DO TO INHERIT ETERNAL LIFE?
"A
certain lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying, 'Teacher,
what shall I do to inherit eternal life?' " (Luke 10:25,
NKJV).
Jesus
answered and "said to him, 'What
is written in the law? What is your reading of it?'
So he answered and said, 'You shall love the Lord your God
with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength,
and with all your mind' and 'your neighbor as yourself'. And
[Jesus] said to him, 'You have answered
rightly; do this and you will live' " (Luke 10:26-28).
Then
the lawyer said to Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"
Jesus answered by telling the story of a man who was traveling
from Jerusalem to Jericho On the journey, thieves robbed him,
striped him of his clothing, beat him and left him wounded
and almost dead. A priest was traveling that road and when
he saw the wounded man, he passed by on the other side of
the road. A Levite [from the family of priests] passed that
way. When he saw the man, he stopped and looked, and then
continued on his journey. Then a Samaritan came that way.
Samaritans were despised by the Jews. When the Samaritan saw
the wounded man, he had compassion on him. He dressed and
bandaged the travelers wounds, put him on his own animal,
took him to an inn, and took care of him.
The nest
day as the Samaritan was preparing to leave, he gave money
to the innkeeper and said, "Take care of him; and whatever
more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you."
Jesus then said to the Lawyer, "So
which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who
fell among the thieves?" And the Lawyer said,
"He who showed mercy on him." Then Jesus said to
him, "Go and do likewise"
(Luke 10:35-37).
On another
occasion a Lawyer asked Jesus, " 'Teacher, which is the
great commandment in the law?' Jesus responded by saying,
'You shall love the Lord your God with
all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.'
This is the first and great commandment. And the second is
like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself'. On these
two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets"
(Matthew 22:36-40).
The first
four of the Ten Commandments are summed up in the one great
precept, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your
heart." The last six are included in the other, "You
shall love your neighbor as yourself." Both of these
values are an expression of the principle of love. "When
God has His rightful place on the throne of the heart, the
right place will be given to our neighbor. We shall love Him
as ourselves. And only as we love God supremely is it possible
to love our neighbor impartially" (Desire of Ages, p.
607).
These
are the values on which God is building His society and on
which eternal life depends.
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