(ThyBlackMan.com) Today’s entry came to me by way of a simple yet profound revelation regarding culture and love.
Culture, as I have come to understand it, is a set of beliefs and customs shared by a group of people that distinguish them from others. The structure of a functioning society is predicated upon such codes from generation to generation as they are passed down by verbalizing vocal and unspoken trends until they become traditions – expected and accepted by all.
A great example of this is the people ofIsrael: the Hebrews. Chosen by God to be called out from the rest of the nations which were inhabiting the earth, He 
separated them not only with His choice favor but with a set of laws that they were to adhere to. While the pinnacle of said laws were The Ten Commandments, they were merely scratched the surface in comparison to the total sum of Levitical laws that were handed down to the people – maintained by a line of priests ordained from the tribe of Levi.
These laws defined a nation and created a culture which thrives today – governed by rules and customs which we as Christians recognize but aren’t necessarily bound by. As I have come to understand by way of Galatians 3, the law was a set up of sorts – a way to let us know that even the best of us fall short despite our intentions to follow after God. The law was meant to serve as a way to show us a more complete solution to our being a chosen people even though when we fail to adhere to it, it’s prescription states ‘Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them’ (verse 10).
It became a way to show us THE way, the truth and the light as seen in the personage of God’s Word: Jesus Christ (John 14:6). Jesus, as the Word made flesh – the Word which proceedeth from the mouth of God and is one with God and therefore, one with the laws which proceedeth from His mouth as well – came to earth and fulfilled what we could not uphold. He lived and died according to the laws for us. He showed us that only He could keep the commandments but also completed the ultimate curse of death that came as a penalty for those, rather US, who disobeyed it through the inherited sin of Adam.
Dying in such a manner, on a cross, was the ultimate curse as Deuteronomy (meaning the ‘second law’ as it re-laid the laws from Exodus and Leviticus which proceeded it)21:18-23 laid out this mandate. But dying in a manner of love? – that would set a precedent of unfounded merit. For as Jesus said
‘Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.’ – John 15:13-14
This love that Christ expressed for what would become His body and bride (which Paul would latter admonish husbands in Ephesians 5:28 when he stated: ‘So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.) is the new law of the land.
When asked by his disciples which is the greatest commandment of the law, Jesus provided an answer which is now the new culture of love which must govern the new line of royals priests (better known as Christians) which maintain the Kingdom of Heavenon earth.
In short, the culture of Christianity is love. While it is a Biblical truth that the word of God will not return to Him void and shall remain long after the earth has faded away (Isaiah 55:11 and Isaiah 40:8, respectively), what Jesus is telling us is that if we would just keep this one commandment of His regarding love, we would be able to honor the rest of the laws which He fulfilled.
This is no small feat! Yet, it is the summation of what Christianity must be about. Loving our enemies separates us from the rest of the world that would seek to destroy them. Loving our neighbor as ourselves defines something larger than who we are.
Such actions create a shock and cultural impact that will redirect the attention to Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father. In doing so, when asked ‘How could you have possibly forgiven or cared about that person that just spitefully used you?’ you can become a witness to He Whom John 3:16 states ‘… so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.’
Love the law of the land. SELAH.
Staff Writer; Reggie Legend
Can find more about this writer over at; http://www.steelwaterspoetry.com
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