Children of God

Malachi 2:10a (NKJV) - Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us?

The prophets spoke on God’s behalf to the people,

It is therefore appropriate that Malachi means “my messenger.”

He emerged when the commitment of the people to God was in decline.

Malachi instructed the people to demonstrate greater faithfulness to God.

He also reminded them that God was the God of all.

Paul, in his letter to the Philippians, reminded them of this.

He also reminded them how they were to treat others.

Philippians 2:3 (NET) - Instead of being motivated by selfish ambition or vanity, each of you should, in humility, be moved to treat one another as more important than yourself.

Paul stressed the importance of Christian unity,

When Christ came into this world, He also reminded us how to treat others.

More importantly, He demonstrated this for us.

In the book of Matthew (which immediately follows Malachi), Christ was asked a question.

An expert in the law tried to trap Jesus with a trick question.

Matthew 22:36 (NET) - “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?”

The two-fold response from Jesus must have surprised the expert.

Matthew 22:37-40 (NET) - Jesus said to him, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. The second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”

Malachi, Paul, and other contributors to the Bible remind us how we are meant to treat others.

More importantly, Christ Himself commands us to love them.

To do so, we must first allow God, the creator of all, to open our minds and our hearts.

Then we can truly see that everyone we encounter is a child of God.

We can then truly follow the words of Jesus.

We can unconditionally love those we encounter in our journeys.

 

Blessings,

Jim Pokorny

The Other Brother Jim

Look for me at https://otherbrotherjim.blogspot.com/ on Friday, August 12, 2022.

I will be back here on Friday, August 19, 2022