Jesus tells us how to inherit eternal life. It’s something we do, not something we believe. Well, sort of. What does Jesus say is necessary? “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”

We love God and love others in order to spend eternity in heaven.

Where does believing and faith come in? Because we can’t love God and love others. We don’t have the ability to love. We are selfish beings. Selfishness is the opposite of love. We can only fulfill the law if Christ is in us fulfilling the law. Jesus is the perfect fulfillment of the law. The law is to love and Jesus is love.

We must love others. We can’t. Jesus can. Jesus’ life in us transforms us into people who love others. Sin and selfishness are dead and buried in Christ and His life of love is resurrected in our hearts by the Holy Spirit given.

When thoughts of the old self come to mind, you don’t believe that’s who you are and what you want. You say, “Hallelujah! The old has passed away and the new has come! That’s not who I am. I don’t want to live like that anymore.” And you don’t pay attention to them. You turn your focus on the Lord and give thanks. And you feast before your enemy.

The parable of the Good Samaritan was told to help the lawyer see who his neighbor was that he had to love.

Jesus tells a story where the despised Samaritan is the hero who loves others and the religious leaders are the ones lacking in love. They put religious duty over love. God desires mercy not sacrifice.

Love is the right thing. Don’t make justifications for why you shouldn’t love, no matter how good and noble they sound.

The neighbor doesn’t see the sin. The neighbor shows mercy.