How many times must I tell you?

“Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.”

Leviticus 19:18 (NIV)

When you have children, you soon realize that telling them only once is never enough. Children need constant reminders to form good habits. It is frustrating as a parent. But I wonder if God ever feels the same way about us.

In Leviticus 19, God reminds the children of Israel about what He already told them in the Ten Commandments. Obviously, they needed to be reminded. All these commandments come under the umbrella, “Be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy.” Then God reveals what His holiness looks like. It is demonstrated in the ordinary affairs of life by loving and respecting one another. God never intended the kind of self-righteous “holiness” that the Pharisees would later exemplify. Instead, God defines holiness as treating others the way we want to be treated–loving our neighbors as we love ourselves.

“To love is to will the good of the other.”

Thomas Aquinas

God’s bar of holiness is extremely high. I mean who can be holy as God is holy? Of course, this is something we aim at, realizing that we will never completely achieve it. However, if we truly love then we are holy. This is why Jesus said that all the Law and the Prophets hang on the two commandments of loving God and loving people (Matthew 22:37-40).

“Brethren, I write no new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which you heard from the beginning… He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him. But he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.”

1 John 2:7, 10–11 (NKJV)

In one sense, we are all little children who must often be told the same things. Thankfully, God is patient with us, as a father is compassionate with the children He loves. But we must not mistake His patience for His approval. Deep and sincere love for God and for others is our best safeguard and the real evidence of our spirituality.

Photo by Beth Macdonald on Unsplash