Final Exam

The scriptures record the following conversation between the Lord and a designing lawyer:

"Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying,

"'Master, which is the great commandment in the law?

"Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

"This is the first and great commandment.

"And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.

"On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."

There are many traits that identify a true disciple of Jesus Christ, but two stand out to me as supreme in their importance, namely Forgiveness (received from God and evidenced in our ability to in turn forgive others) and Love. Interestingly, the two are inseparably connected.

To His discples gathered on the Mount of Olives, Jesus shared the parable of the sheep and the goats, illustrating with poignancy that it is in showing our genuine love for our neighbor that we ultimately reveal the depth of our love for the Lord:

"When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:

"And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:

"For I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat, I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:

"Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.

"Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?

"When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?

"Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?

"And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily, I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me."

Love. Will I pass this test?

There Is Beauty All Around

There is a bounty of both positive and negative images and influences surrounding us every day. More often than not, seeing beauty requires making a conscious choice to acknowledge its presence before us.

But then there are times when all that is needed is simply to open our eyes and look.