Paul is talking to the Galatians about giving up trying to live by the law. The law is summarized by "Love your neighbor as yourself". We are free of the law, it's this one thing we must do. Sounds so easy, doesn't it? How do I really keep this command? Professionally I have been struggling with how to be a good broker. I started trying to be the broker that I wanted, but I'm realizing now that what I want isn't what all agents want and so now I'm trying to be the broker that they need, rather than what I need. Is this similar to "Love your neighbor as yourself"? Is part of that to not give them what my needs are - but to try to put myself in their shoes and ascertain what their needs are? What does it really mean to love your neighbor as yourself?
One thing that I know that it means is to keep from harming others. In verse 15 Paul says "If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other." Using others for your own gain, gossiping, putting others down so that you look more important in your own eyes - it's so easy for us to "look out for #1" that we don't think through how our actions affect others.
Paul talks in 19-26 about the acts of the flesh versus the fruit of the Spirit. One of the acts of the flesh is selfish ambition. Loving your neighbor starts with looking outside yourself.
Today my prayer is that the Lord gives me sensitivity to areas where I am thinking only of myself and help me to love others.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment