Love the Lord your God
with all your heart and with all
your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. (Deuteronomy
6:5, Mark 12:30)
War in the Middle East. People killing each other over land
that God created. Citizens angered over an election. Individuals taking out
anger and resentment on their neighbors. Others staying in the grip of the
enemy, choosing to stay there, blaming others because their own circumstances
are not to their liking.
As Christians, Jews and Muslims approach this season, we all
need to get back to our religious roots of peace and faith, and look to our
common ancestor, Abraham.
All three religions have a common creed: to love the Lord
our God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind and with all
our strength; to obey Him in all we think, in all we say and all we do; and to
honor and love Him first in all things.
Abraham was chosen by God because he was a fallible, but
faithful, human who was obedient to God. He made mistakes, but he was repentant
and sought God’s forgiveness. He loved God, and obeyed God’s commands even when
he didn’t know what the future would bring.
- When we hate, do we love God?
- When we are unforgiving, are we loving God?
- When we are ungenerous with our attitude, our words and our actions, are we loving God?
And worse, are we showing God’s love to others? Are we
searching our own hearts and allowing God to do His gracious work in us? Are we
building His Kingdom?
The apostle Paul, who was a former Jewish teacher of Mosaic
law, tells us that we ought to be living sacrifices to God because He has shown
us such great mercy.
In simple terms, it’s called pay it forward. This season, as
Christians, Jews and Muslims, if we can show just a small percent – a tithe, if
you will – of God’s mercy, love and forgiveness to others, we might just make a
huge difference in the world.
