I wrote yesterday about how God spoke to me through the obituary of someone I don’t even know:
Seek God, love people, help others do the same
Later, I thought of one of my life verses:
For Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the LORD and to practice it, and to teach His statutes and ordinances in Israel. (Ezra 7.10, NASB)
It ties together:
- Study the Word – not for academic purposes but in order to know God. (You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me. John 5.39, ESV)
- Practice the Word – Jesus said the law of the LORD calls for loving God and loving people (Matthew 22.36 – 39)
- Teach the Word – help others do the same. (Anyone who does not know the teaching, you teach them! Ezra 7.25, MSG)
To put it back into the language of the obituary:
- Study – seek God
- Do – love people
- Teach – help others do the same
And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, [Jesus] interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. (Luke 24.27 ESV)
…Through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Galatians 5.13, 14, ESV)