In John 15:12 Jesus said, "This is My commandment, that ye love one another, as I have loved you." Now what was the first commandment? "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength." How much is left? Not much! So the first commandment is "Love to God." The second commandment is "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself."
It is utterly impossible to put this second into words, even in the Bible, because though the Bible is composed of divinely inspired human words, they are still inadequate, since they are of human origin and best suited to describe human things. When attempting to grasp the full meaning of the first commandment "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength," when we try to comprehend everything that is intended, we acknowledge our human inability to fully understand. So God sent Jesus to this planet to give us a living demonstration of the love that is the outworking of this commandment.
In simple terms Jesus said, "Thous shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." Jesus expressed the same idea with other words when He said, "That ye love one another as I have loved you" John 13:34, & 15:12.
How do I love my neighbor as myself? I love my neighbor as myself in the same way Jesus loved me. Does that make it any easier to understand? If it doesn't, all I have to do is return to the Scriptures and study the life of Christ, for there in His life are exemplified all the teachings of Scripture. Every doctrine, every teaching, every single experience of life, for life's problems, I go to the Scriptures. Jesus said, "You search the Scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of Me" John 5:39.
Jesus' life, Jesus' whole purpose--His work for mankind through the plan of redemption--was exemplified in the Old Testament in different definitions: "to endure without yielding, "to bear patiently," to accept without objection," and "to remain stable." We could have a good discussion on any of these, but I think we can readily agree that abiding includes the possibility of yielding while being in the Vine, or fail to endure.
Jesus referred to yielding individuals who are blown about by every wind of doctrine, and yet feel they are connected to the Vine. They think they are abiding; they trust that they are abiding. If this were not possible, we wouldn't have individuals coming and saying, "Lord, You treated me wrong! I was sincere in this, but I was fooled. I couldn't tell I was fooled, but I was. I thought for sure that I was abiding in the Vine." If this matter of "abiding, yet not abiding" were not possible, there wouldn't be the group that comes and says, "Lord, You treated me wrong. I don't deserve this at all. I deserve better treatment because I did all of those things in Your name." So abiding isn't a matter of feelings; it isn't a matter of feeling good, bad or indifferent.
I can't add anything to this, it seems self-explanatory that we must not believe everything that anyone says about the Scriptures. There are a lot of false doctrines floating around out there and we must have all our doctrine from the Scriptures, every bit of them. No guessing to whats right or whats wrong, the Bible is very explicit as to our duty to God and man. Just believe and follow Christ as you abide in the Vine it will all turn out just right if you stay there or if you do fall, like I did yesterday, I really went in the ditch, but saw my error and repented immediately several times, I was so sorry. Then we are back with the Vine again. Isn't that the greatest news. I am so happy to know that if I stay there, there will be no worries, I need to trust God to take care of me in every situation. Grandma Joan
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