Loving Those Less Blessed Than You – The Second Great Commandment

Loving Those Less Blessed Than You

Matthew 22:37-39

And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Galatians 2:10

Only, they asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.

There are many ways to love the poor.

Poverty can take many forms. Of course, there is that “hard luck” that finds people lacking in material provision. Spiritual poverty is another way that people can be poor – a way that can be a source of great blessing when people acknowledge this need and turn to the Lord. People can be in poor or failing health, confined to a nursing home or hospital, or unable to work as they once could. The Apostle Paul resolved to minister to the poor as part of his commission to take the Gospel to the Gentiles. He was faithful in doing this, even to the point of rallying the churches in Europe to give to the relief of the famine-stricken churches in Judea. Neighbor-love requires a similar concern on our parts, for all the poor God is pleased to bring into our lives. We should reflect concern for the poor in the use of all the gifts God makes available to us – time, wealth, and strength in particular. A visit to a hospital or nursing home, working in the local rescue mission, taking a weaker brother in tow for more intense disciple-making, sharing of your wealth to relieve poverty worldwide: these are just a few of the ways that we who love the Lord must also love our neighbors according to the plain teaching of God’s Law.

In what ways do you reach out to love the poor?

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“In the Gates” is a devotional series on the Law of God by Rev. T.M. Moore

T. M. Moore is editor of the Worldview Church. He serves as dean of the Centurions Program of the Wilberforce Forum and principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He is the author or editor of twenty books, and has contributed chapters to four others. His essays, reviews, articles, papers, and poetry have appeared in dozens of national and international journals, and on a wide range of websites. His most recent books are The Ailbe Psalter and The Ground for Christian Ethics (Waxed Tablet).

Scripture quotations in this article are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, (c) copyright 2001,2007 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Editor’s note: The use of a translation other than the Authorised Version in an article does not constitute an endorsement in whole or in part by The Christian Observer.