Articles
Real J.O.Y.
“And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength…you shall love your neighbor as yourself…” (Mark 12:30-31)
What is the most important commandment? How could one even decide the answer to that question? Jesus faced a quandary unlike any other when the scribe approached Him with this question. Out of the hundreds and hundreds of commands and principles laid forth in the Word of God, Jesus picked the two that illustrated the “weightier provisions of the Law.” Jesus identified that the most important matter of all before God was unceasing devotion to Him. A natural offshoot of that sincerity to God would be devotion to one’s fellow man.
We are focusing this year on “Becoming One With One Another.” In order to realize the fullest extent of this privilege, we must fortify our zeal for God and our readiness to become united with our brethren. This means patience when troubles arise, spending time with one another inside AND outside of services, knowing each others pains and weaknesses, participating in worship, striving to evangelize, etc.
Gale Sayers emphasized this truth of Christ in his brief autobiography entitled, “I Am Third.” To him, the Lord was to be first, others were to be second, and he was to come third. This remains even today to be one of the most recognized truisms of a true Christian life. Others have created the acronym, J.O.Y. to synthesize the thought as Jesus, others, yourself. Truly someone who understands this principle and applies in their everyday life is one who is “not far from the kingdom of God.”
