Love is that important
James 2:8-13 New King James Version (NKJV)
8) If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,”[a] you do well; 9) but if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors. 10) For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. 11) For He who said, “Do not commit adultery,”[b] also said, “Do not murder.”[c] Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. 12) So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty. 13) For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
For the third time, in a very small section of Scripture, James tells us not to show partiality. This time, he explains how it is a sin. God commanded, under the law to love our neighbor as ourselves. All neighbors…smart ones, dumb ones, tall ones, short ones, the beautiful and the not so beautiful, the rich and the poor, the saved and the lost. We are to love them all.
James says if we stumble in one point of the law, we are guilty of all. Sin is sin to God – it all requires a blood atonement sacrifice – Jesus. If we do not love God or our neighbors, we become transgressors of the law just as a murderer or an adulterer.
Love is THAT important!
But James admonishes us to live under the law of liberty – this law doesn’t condone sin, it washes over it. It allows us to receive a pardon for the death sentence we deserve so that we can then go out and live out the law of liberty towards others – pour out mercy, gentleness, love, kindness, tenderheartedness, goodness, self-control, and long-suffering on ALL those who are around us, not just the ones we get along with.
James says, “For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy.” Jesus said something similar when He taught His disciples to pray – “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”
If we want forgiveness and mercy from God, we must be willing to GIVE IT!
Be on the look out for your opportunity to extend mercy and forgiveness like God has done for you through Christ.
