No Third Commandment

“Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second [is] like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” (Mt 22:37-40 AV)

Have you ever heard of the acronym J.O.Y.?  It stands for Jesus, others, yourself.  It is intended as a reminder that in order to have real joy, one’s priorities should be in that order.  Pleasing Jesus; or God; comes first.  Serving others comes second.  Self comes last.  But look at the commandments above.  There are only two.  These two are not the first two.  They are the only two.  The first is to love the LORD God.  The second is to love others.  Then Jesus says that upon these two commandments rests the entire Biblical law.  There is no third commandment.  There is no ‘Y’.  Self is not included in the commandments.  Only Jesus and others.  This is not only different from what the world teaches.  It is the polar opposite.

Our world has always put Self first.  This is nothing new.  We priorities what we need, how we feel, what our values are, that which is just to us.  Others are only a passing consideration.  God doesn’t even exist.  It is ironic that the first commandment of the world doesn’t even exist in God’s economy.  Self is not part of the equation.  Do you want to know why evil exists?  Because Self is the first commandment.  Do you want to know why wickedness is so rampant?  Because Self is the first commandment.  Do you want to know why people are so callous regarding the suffering of others?  Self!  Why is it that our churches are empty, sacred holidays have been secularized, or God is no longer in the minds of the vast majority of souls?  Self.  Why are the prisons filling up faster than we can build them?  Self.  Why is it that our world is in chaos?  Self.  The heartbreaking stories that fill our news have one-word headlines.  Self.  Nowhere in the Bible does it tell us to love ourselves.  No where.  We are to love God and others.  Never ourselves.

To have real joy, one must drop the ‘y’.  One must spell joy without the ‘y’.  The ‘y’ does not belong.  For real unity and peace in the world, Self must go.  For the world to have any hope of stability, prosperity, and purpose, Self must cease to exist.  All the ills of the world can be boiled down to one four letter word.  The worst of all words.  The word that started it all in the Garden of Eden.  The word that continues to be humanity’s worst cause for suffering.  Self!  There are only two commandments.  Self doesn’t have one because Self has no consideration.