Matthew 22:36-40 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 neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

In times past I would hear them say to me; ”I love you with the love of the Lord.” When they did, all I could think at that moment was; “If this is how the Lord loves, I don’t want it.”

Words are cheap and meaningless if our actions do not reflect our true heart. Perhaps they do and something is wrong with our heart condition. If so then we have a bigger problem than our choice of words.

Matthew 10:8b freely ye have received, freely give.

If you think these instructions were only given to His disciples, are you not His disciple? What is it that you have received freely that is yours to give? The first thing that comes to mind is the gospel and the offer of salvation. These are but words and without some measure of sincerity in earnest intentions, they will fall on deaf ears.

Matthew 10:11-14 And into whatsoever city or town ye shall enter, enquire who in it is worthy; and there abide till ye go thence. And when ye come into an house, salute it. And if the house be worthy, let your peace come upon it: but if it be not worthy, let your peace return to you. And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet.

There is something special in abiding with strangers that means you have to allow yourself to get entangled with their life. You have to get to know them and allow them to get to know you. You have to show them who you are, not for a moment, but consistently over a longer period of time then a chance encounter.

John 1:12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

Galatians 2:16 Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.

1 Thessalonians 5:24 Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.

2 Thessalonians 3:3-4 But the Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil. And we have confidence in the Lord touching you, that ye both do and will do the things which we command you.

Philippians 3:9 And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:

It seems right to me that faithfulness and righteousness are in Christ Jesus and I only have access to them because I am in Christ. Apart from him I can do nothing. (I read that somewhere)

Yet when we speak we often assume the mantle of faithfulness without remembering where that mantle came from, to whom it belongs, and give glory to the One who allows us to wear it.

All this is possible because of the Cross of Christ, the single most impactful event in history, the game changer. It ended the law as the only means to righteousness, initiated faith as the standard for access to forgiveness, mercy, grace and a personal relationship with our Creator.