_ In my last post, I presented a racing scenario where I was crashed.  One of the questions I asked was, “How am I supposed to treat this fellow competitor?”  In Matthew 22:37-40 Jesus said the two greatest commandments were, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.  This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it.  Love your neighbor as yourself.”  All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

I want to take a look at these commandments in the context of my story and determine if it applies.  How do I respond to being treated this way?  I sure do not want to be a door mat for people to walk on.  The first commandment was to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and all your mind.  So the first decision is whether I will follow that commandment, which I made a decision to do in October of 2004.  I am not perfect at it by any means, but I am continually trying to improve.  In regards to commandment number two, I do not see how you can follow number one without following number two.  In fact this is stated in 1 John chapter 2:3-5.  “3 We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. 4 Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. 5 But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him.”  I think the conclusion is simple.  If you love God, then you will work at following his commandments.

Since I need to obey the second commandment, what does that look like?  I can definitely tell you what it does not look like.  In past situations, I was so angry I got in fights, a couple times I crashed into the other driver on the track, and another time I went as far as throwing a fist full of rocks at the other driver’s car.  Racing sanctioning bodies are quick to condemn this type of reaction and maybe you are condemning me now.  Well, all I can say is I have done what I have done.  I have asked for forgiveness so let us focus on what I should have done.  This is where it gets tough.  Does it mean you have to love selfish people?  I believe it does.  The commandment only talks about our actions not the actions of the other person.  There is no qualifier on the type of neighbor we are to love.  After all, is it not selfish of me to decide how I deserve to be treated?  A great quote from Stephen Kendrick is, “Almost every sinful action ever committed can be traced back to a selfish motive. It is a trait we hate in other people but justify in ourselves.”  The fact is we are all selfish.  We all love ourselves.  If that was not true, then it would not make sense for Jesus to tell us to love our neighbors as we love our self.  Based on these words I should look at how I would want to be treated, and then that will tell me how I should treat others.  I would want to be given the benefit of the doubt.  Maybe they did not intend for it to happen.  How can I condemn someone for being selfish, when I am selfish myself?  I cannot.  Secondly, will I be effective sharing my faith if I am fighting with others?  No, it makes my faith appear to be non genuine.   After all, God let the event happen so it was a part of his plan.  Maybe his plan is to provide an opportunity to share Christ with the other driver.  That is where my focus should be; the eternal not one night of racing.