Today's Daily Lesson comes from Matthew 5 verses 17 through 20:
17 ‘Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfil. 18For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. 19Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
Love is the fulfillment of the law.
Justice is love in action.
The beloved community is a community of love and justice.
When I was in high school I was taught that Christianity was "all about a personal relationship with Christ".
Christianity is not "ALL" about our personal relationship with God and Christ. That, I have learned, is a mark of a White supremacist theology that worked to privatize faith (and schools) so that the demands of our more communal obligations to one another were no longer necessary in order for us to be good followers of Jesus.
It was "all about the relationship with Christ."
We can't have a relationship with Christ outside our relationship with others.
And Christ told us where we would find him -- amongst the poor, hungry, naked, and imprisoned.
If we want a personal relationship with Christ, we know where to find him.
We also know how to help and stand in solidarity with him.
Jim Wallis says our faith is "always personal, but never private."
And that's because we can't love God without also loving, and caring for, and seeking justice with someone with skin on.
Ryon Price is Senior Pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas.
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