"What is written in the Law?" He replied, "How do you read it?"
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."
"You have answered correctly," Jesus replied. "Do this and you will live." (Luke 10:25-28)
Is it just me, or does it sound a bit ridiculous to ask what you need to do in order to inherit something--be it eternal life or anything else? The whole idea of inheriting, as I understand it, involves who you are rather than what you do. You inherit something because it is given to you, based on who you are. A child inherits what is left to him by his parents, simply because he is their child. So the question itself seems a bit misguided. Eternal life is something we are given, not something we earn or achieve. And it is given because we are children of God. The only doing involved comes from the fact that those who are really God's children will resemble their Father. Thus, they act like what they already are--his very own. God's children, because God is love, will love. They will love him, and therefore love others. It is simply who they are. Now obviously loving God and others involves a lot of doing, but the doing is something that flows out of their being. We cannot truly love people with the love of God if it is not part of who we are. That's where the expert in the law was missing the boat. He was too in love with himself, his position, and his own observations, to be genuinely in love with God, and it showed. Once we are captured by the love of God--seized by the power of his great affection--everything else will flow out of that. It is really not all that complicated.
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