_(Friday 23rd
August 2019. Read Ruth 1:1-22, Psalm 146 and Matthew 22:34-40)_
_“But Ruth
said, ‘Entreat me not to leave you or to return from following you; for where
you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge; your people shall be my
people, and your God my God; where you die I will die, and there will I be
buried.’” *(Ruth 1:16-17)*_
The love
of God is the summary of all the commandments. It is also the greatest of them
all. What does it mean to love God? It means to value God so much in your heart
that you would rather die than offend him.
At the
heart of Christian worship is love. Another word for love is worship. To love
is to worship. In other words, if we were to really love God, we would truly
worship him by keeping every one of his commandments even if we don’t feel like
keeping them. To love God is to sacrifice one’s own will for the sake of doing
the will of God.
Take away
love, and all that we do in Church becomes a waste of time and energy, a show
or drama so to say! This was why Jesus had to ask Peter this question three
times, “Do you love me?” “Peter, do you love me more than these?” “Peter, do
you really love me more than these?” How can we claim to be serving God if we
love other things more than God?
The first
and greatest commandment is also intricately connected to the second commandment
which is: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” Of course, as St. John
says: “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’
and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom
he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.” (1 John 4:20).
The Story
of Ruth and Naomi in the Bible is a story of Love. How I wish our daughters
will increase the love they have for their mothers-in-law and stop
seeing them as enemies competing for their sons’ attention. Ruth refused to
leave Naomi, her mother-in-law because she was wise enough to know that Naomi,
being an aged woman cannot survive on her own without help. Here comes another
lesson in love; the care for the old.
I often
wonder why our old people are not treated with as much care and love as they
deserve. I wonder why here in Africa, the moment a person is old, he or she is
suddenly labelled a witch even by their own children.
When I
consider the love and attention parents give their children at a point in their
lives when these children are fragile, helpless and unable to fend for
themselves and I consider how children “reciprocate” this love and attention, I
become moved to tears.
Love is
empty if it doesn’t require anything from you. True love requires sacrificing
for others especially for the old. Just
as loving God demands our wholehearted worship, loving our neighbours also
demands sacrifice on our part.
Let us
pray: Lord Jesus, help me to love you with better each day. Amen.
Be Happy.
Live Positive. Have Faith. It is well with you. God bless you. (Friday of the
20th Week in Ordinary Time. Bible Study: Ruth 1:1-22, Psalm 146 and Matthew
22:34-40).
No comments:
Post a Comment