Two Commandments and Relationships

Hey Pastor John,

I sure have been thinking about relationships lately and how much they mean to God. I was going through some old emails yesterday and found this one. It is an excerpt from one of our meetings about relationships.

Amy
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Pastor John:

Here are some notes I took from what you said last night:
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Every one of God's commandments concerns relationships. Every one of them. Everything in the Bible is there to direct us to a right relationship with somebody, either with God or our fellow man.

The commandments of the Law, such as "Thou shalt not steal," teach us how to have a right relationship with others. Stealing from another is not how to have a right relationship.

All of God's commandments are love, written out. They teach us to love as God loves. That's why Paul wrote, "Therefore love is fulfillment of the Law." Everyone of God's commandments leads us to a godly relationship, either with him or with another. Everyone of his commandments teaches us how to have a relationship that is healthy and holy and eternal.

There is no commandment just for you, apart from anybody else. There are no loners that are going to be saved in the end. You're going to have a relationship with the people who are going to be saved, or you are going to be left out. And that relationship is going to be good, pure.

One man asked Jesus, "What is the greatest commandment?" And he said, "Love God with all your heart, mind, and strength." And then Jesus said, "Let me volunteer the second biggest one: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' " Then Jesus added, "On those two commandments hang all the Law and the prophets."

The whole of our lives, as they should be lived, is summarized in those two commandments which direct us to love God completely and to love others.