“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.” (John 13:34, NASB)
Have you gotten used to dropping the ball from knee height and putting with the flag in the hole? Whether or not you are a fan of all the United States Golf Association’s rules changes for 2019, you should appreciate that the sport’s governing body has made the effort to simplify some of the rules and speed up play.
Early in the year we saw a few violations of the rules that drew criticism from professional players and viewing fans. However, newcomers to the game will never know the old rules and will never think you should have to pull out the flagstick to tap your ball in the hole or drop from shoulder height. Still, many people don’t like changes from what they are used to until they get comfortable with a new way, even if they’re willing to admit that the changes are for the better.
I understand why the teachings and commands of Jesus might have been difficult to embrace for his fellow Jews, but it amazes me how often God’s children, both Jew and Gentile, do not embrace the new way Jesus introduced. He simplified the rules for the better, yet many Christians and churches try to hang on to the complex and burdensome ways of the Old Covenant by lording technicalities over each other. Jesus was the ultimate game-changer, fulfilling the words of the prophet Jeremiah:
“Behold, days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,” declares the LORD. “But this is the covenant which I will make… after those days… I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people…. for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares the LORD, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” (Jeremiah 31:31-34)
The way you love God and others trumps all else—church attendance, tithing, Scripture knowledge, or the practice of sacraments and liturgy.God promised a new and better covenant than the Law. Jesus became the bridegroom; we became his bride. He made having a relationship with God very simple, and here is one overarching command and one simple rule that became the way of the New Covenant: love. Jesus said, “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35). Knowing his children were incapable of faithfully obeying the complexities of the Law, God had an amazing and beautiful plan to return mankind to intimacy with him.
In this new marriage, we are offered freedom. We are free to love him and free to love others without restriction. This is the way heaven has always operated, and this is how the kingdom of God has conducted itself since the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit entered the hearts of those who put their faith in him.
I want to encourage you to make love the theme of your spiritual journey. The way you love God and others trumps all else—church attendance, tithing, Scripture knowledge, or the practice of sacraments and liturgy. We must be careful of having what would be considered good theology and sound doctrine, but not having and demonstrating love for our neighbor.
“The one who loves his brother abides in the Light and there is no cause for stumbling in him” (1 John 2:10).
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Josh Nelson
June 19, 2019
Copyright 2019 Links Players International
The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.
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