What must I do?

Have you ever wondered what it is you're supposed to do? What do you need to do to earn dessert after dinner? What do you need to do to pass the swim test? What do you need to do to get your room clean enough that your mother will be happy with it? Often times we're looking for a nice easy answer. Sometimes we find that the answer is not as easy as we hoped it would be.

This week we'll be looking at a Bible story that at first looks like it has an easy answer but when you look at it further, it gets a wee bit more complicated. Let's start looking at the story in Luke 10:25-28.

²⁵ On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

²⁶ “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”

²⁷ He answered: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”

²⁸ “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”

The man asking Jesus the question here is an expert in the Law. He knows his Bible well. He asks Jesus a question that we all really want the answer to.

• What question does He ask Jesus? How do I inherit eternal life
• What does Jesus ask him? What does the Bible say?
• The answer is one that all good Jews in Jesus day would have known by heart. "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind" and "Love your neighbor as yourself." Does Jesus agree with this? Yes, he told the man to do it.
• Do you think it is easy to do this?
  • What are some things that might keep you from loving God?
  • What are some things that might keep you from loving your neighbor?