MARK 12:31, C. H. Cayce “And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that He had answered them well, asked Him, Which is the first commandment of all? And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.” We give verses 28 to 30 so that the reader may have the connection. These were of the ten commandments given to Israel.
The neighbor is not always the one living next door. The neighbor is one who is a friend in need, and a friend in need is a friend in deed. No man in nature, perhaps, has ever loved another as he loved himself. “Self preservation is the first law of nature,” is an old saying, which is a true one. If a man loves his neighbor as he loves himself, and has only one dollar in the world, he would as soon his neighbor had the dollar as to keep it. One young man who went to the Saviour claimed that he had kept all the commandments, and expected to get to heaven, or to receive eternal life, on account of the things he had done. The Saviour tried him on his own platform, and manifested the fact that the young man had not loved his neighbor as himself. He was not willing for others to have his possessions. He loved himself more, and did not desire to divide. No man can ever receive eternal life as a result of his own doings. But the one who has the love of God shed abroad in his heart by the Holy Ghost loves all those who give him evidence that they have been born from above, and desires to help relieve them in their sufferings and sorrows. His heart goes out in sympathy to them, and he is willing to divide all that he has with them. This is but another evidence of a gracious state. “If we love Him that begat, we love him also that is begotten of Him.” “We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren.” If we love the brethren, as we should, we will not fail to manifest that love. We should show our love. “Love not in word only.” It does not amount to much for us to talk a whole lot about how much we love the brethren, and how much we love the cause, and never show that love, or prove it, by the way we do. We have had some to tell us they loved us and esteemed us, and then do what they could for our injury. Such as that is not Christ-like, but is hypocritical. We would much rather a man would never tell us that he loves us, or thinks well of us, than for him to tell us that, and then act differently. We should be faithful and true to our convictions, and true to our trust. We should act in a way that all may be confident that we are sincere, and have no just cause to say that we are not. Let us prove our love for one another. The Primitive Baptist, June 15, 1920.