Serving: An act of selflessness

Matthew 22:34-40
Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" 37Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

When Jesus was being tested, He gave the correct answer which the Pharisees knew by heart. However, He didn't just stop there. Why didn't he not stop there? There are two possibility.

Firstly, by continuing to the 2nd greatest commandment, He challenged the expert in the law to look at loving people. The expert or the crowd he was addressing may have lost sight of what the Laws were about. They had a narrow view that the Laws were put in place to seperate the righteous from the sinners. However, the Laws had an element of love in it. A good example to showcase love for people is the ten commandments. The first four commandments were for relationship with God. the next SIX were for relationship with Man. If God was only concerned about individual fellowship with Him, he would have stopped at four. However, He placed even more commandments with regards to daily living with Man. Looking closely at the six, I would like to think that those Laws were put there not only to guide us to righteous living but also to love people. Hence, Jesus was trying to get them to consider their narrow perspective of the Laws.

Secondly, Jesus may be highlighting that if we keep the 1st commandment, the 2nd commandment should come naturally to our mind as well. If we love God with our whole being, putting Him first above every burdens, needs, desires and concerns we have, the next thing is that we will not live isolated lives. We would be living lives that are beaming and radiating acts of love. Hence, the natural leading to the 2nd commandment. He came and preached to the people to shift the concern of self to be God-centredness and to be selfless - putting others before self.

Therefore, it's my firm believe that if we truely love God, we would become selfless. An evidence that we worship and is in fellowship with Him is the act of service, an act of selflessness.