Those of us in my age group remember a series of commercials called "If I could be like Mike, and if you wanted to be like Michael Jordan, all you had to do was drink a particular sports drink. Athletes from various sports, such as Tiger Woods, Serena Williams, Michael Phelps, and Usain Bolt, gave the impression that this sports drink helps fuel them to dominate their sport.
People can be fueled by different things, such as money, fame, technology, social media, and so on.
However, as believers, we have not so learned Christ according to Ephesians 4:20; we are to be fueled by something else. What is that, something else?
To answer this question, we will examine the conversation between Christ and the Pharisees in Matthew 22:34-40.
But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together.
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.
So love for God and love for our neighbor should fuel the believer. Love should be the foundation of everything that we do. This should be easy for us to reciprocate because God first loved us.
In fact, the most important verse in all of scripture is John 3:16 which states:
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
The Apostle Paul puts it this way in Romans 5:8,
“But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
Therefore, love should be the motivation and foundation in everything that we do because, first of all, it’s a command from God, and second, it’s a way for us to shine our light towards men (our neighbor) and point them to the WAY the TRUTH and the LIFE.
How can we use LOVE to shine our light?
To answer this question, we look to the LOVE chapter 1 Corinthians 13:4-8
Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude.
It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged.
It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out.
Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.
Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever!
This is not easy to do because we are still in the flesh. However, we have the Holy Spirit living inside of us, and he gives us the ability to live a Spirit-filled life when we yield our mind, body, thoughts, and soul to him.
God bless you.