Would this be the core commandment of Christ, next to Loving God first,be hard...

[SDWL]

...for most of us? A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.

When i read the above statement from Jesus, it seems he understood His assignment... and kept this as his central assignment... in fact he so understood us, he commanded us to protect ourselves from loss by telling us... to never take our eyes off what He had Commanded us....

Now my question is..

What are you doing about this in your life when it comes to loss?
How do we guard ... that commandment, which is so essential and valuable for us?

I appreciate your thoughts on how to protect ourselves from catastrophic losses.. thanks for helping me in this study.
NO thumbs down from me... these look like pretty thought out answers.. i will read them all in the morning... thanks for contributing.. so much... Blessings

 

[Cindy]

When the Jews asked Him, "What shall we do that we may work the work of God?" Jesus told them, "This is the work of God; that you believe on Him whom He has sent."

So I would say that the above is the core commandment of Christ. Everything else is contained within this, including love toward one another (which is so very vital). We are to live by the life of Christ, not by our own natural lives, and the more we focus on Him, become like Him, learn to live by His life, the more we will naturally obey all of His other commandments. We will obey because we are like Him and we are living by His life.

I don't think you or I or any other true follower need to worry about protecting ourselves from loss, catastrophic or otherwise. If you're talking about loss in this world, well that can sometimes come and it does. We need to remember that God, in His perfect love toward us, will not allow anything to come to us that will not benefit us in the long run. If you're talking about loss in the next world, the way to prevent that is to keep following Him and living by His life (which you will do, if you're truly His.)

It isn't about us, you know. It's about Him -- what He came here for, what He created for: that He might be known through His body, His bride, His family, His temple. He has invited us into the fellowship of the Godhead; that eternal dance of love, of each laying down everything for the others until they are not three but one. He wants us to be one also, with Him. Not gods, but one with God. This is the eternal purpose, not that we should avoid suffering loss.

Be blessed,

Cindy

 

[pygonza]

It sounds like you are saying, how do we open ourselves up to loving others, while still guarding our hearts, protecting ourselves from being hurt?

We have to look at all the messages of the Bible in order to understand how to live with obeying this commandment. Jesus urged the disciples to protect themselves, he said I send you out as sheep among wolves, so be as cunning as serpents but gentle as doves.
Matthew 10:16

He also told the disciples any of them who did not own a sword should go out and buy one.
Luke 22:35-37

Jesus was not a mamby pamby. He got angry and told people off, especially when they were leading people astray. Jesus loved people so much to rebuke them when they were wrong, because he cared. He healed people and then told them to sin no more or a worse thing would happen to them. Jesus loved people, but he didn't take any crap from them.

 

[TeRex1]

.
Jesus REISSUED this Commandment as He gave it first to Moses -
In Leviticus 19:18.

We are here required to put off all malice, and to put on brotherly love, Lev_19:18. 1. We must be ill-affected to none: Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge; to the same purport with that Lev_19:17, Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart; for malice is murder begun. If our brother has done us an injury, we must not return it upon him, that is avenging; we must not upon every occasion upbraid him with it, that is bearing a grudge; but we must both forgive it and forget it, for thus we are forgiven of God. It is a most ill-natured thing, and the bane of friendship, to retain the resentment of affronts and injuries, and to let that word devour for ever. 2. We must be well-affected to all: Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. We often wrong ourselves, but we soon forgive ourselves those wrongs, and they do not at all lessen our love to ourselves; and in like manner we should love our neighbour. Our Saviour has made this the second great commandment of the law (Mat_22:39), and the apostle shows how it is the summary of all the laws of the second table, Rom_13:9, Rom_13:10; Gal_5:14. We must love our neighbour as truly as we love ourselves, and without dissimulation; we must evidence our love to our neighbour in the same way as that by which we evidence our love to ourselves, preventing his hurt, and procuring his good, to the utmost of our power. We must do to our neighbour as we would be done to ourselves (Mat_7:12), putting our souls into his soul's stead, Job_16:4, Job_16:5. Nay, we must in many cases deny ourselves for the good of our neighbour, as Paul, 1Co_9:19, etc. Herein the gospel goes beyond even that excellent precept of the law; for Christ, by laying down his life for us, has taught us even to lay down our lives for the brethren, in some cases (1Jo_3:16), and so to love our neighbour better than ourselves.