Matthew 22:34–38 – But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment.
THEME OF THE DAY: OUR GREATEST PRIVILEGE AND RESPONSIBILITY. It should not be difficult to identify the “what” in today’s theme. When it comes to the human experience, our greatest privilege and responsibility is found in today’s scripture. It is also called the “great and first commandment” revealed as loving God with every ounce of our being. It has been said, “The greatest and best thing that can be said of a man or woman is that he or she loved the Lord.”
All Christians will agree loving God is the supreme command in life. It trumps all other things. Yet, get in a crowd of Christians and discuss what it means to love God. We may hear a lot of things. First and foremost will be “To love God is to obey Him.” I hope that is the first thought and words from any Christian when asked, “What does it mean to love God?” Our Lord made it clear, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments” (John 14:15). We simply cannot say, “I love the Lord” and live a worldly and spiritually indifferent life. It is a contradiction. We also cannot say, “I love the Lord” and harbor any sin and not fight against all sin. Love and sin are polar opposites always in direct conflict with each other. And we cannot say, “I love the Lord” just because we faithfully go to church, do service in the church, and try to live an upright moral life. Those things will be true in our love for the Lord, but they are not the starting points to validate our love for the Lord. Unsaved people go to church, even serve in the church, and live morally upright, yet, there is no love for the Lord in them. So where do we go to safely evaluate ourselves in our love for God? What would be the strongest indicators that we really are living out our greatest privilege and responsibility in life which is to love Him? Let’s consider three things affirming our love for God.
First, we will love the things He loves. As we look into the scriptures and heart of the Lord, we see His love for holiness, His love for the lost, and His love for His people. And when the Lord loves, He does so with fullness, intensity, and action (John 13:1). The most important place to start in evaluating our love for Him is to ask, “Am I affectionately passionate for personal holiness, for the work of the Gospel, and for the good of the Lord’s people?” And the affirmation of our loving what He loves will be in our resolve and sacrifice to be actively involved in pursuing all three. Not out of duty or obligation, but His love controlling and directing us.
Next, we will hate what He hates and that may be stated in one word – sin. God loathes sin with such intensity that He not only crushed His Son for it, but has promised to eternally destroy and remove it from existence. Our attitude toward sin says so much about our love for the Lord. Light views of sin reveal little love for Him. If we can tolerate any sin, be it unkind speech, impatience, bad attitudes, and spiritual indifference, we are lacking love for the Lord. His holy love never tolerates sin and our love for Him must do likewise.
The third indication we are growing in our love for the Lord is an increasing desire to be with Him. Jesus said, “Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world” (John 17:24). Lovers want to be in each other’s company – always. Our longing to be with Christ simply to be with Christ is a strong indication of genuine love for Him.
Loving God with all our being is our greatest privilege and responsibility. Let’s seek the Lord Himself to help us exercise it for His glory and our good.
PRAYER: “Father, I praise You for creating me, calling me, and enabling me to love You.”
QUOTE: “Our understanding of Christianity is Biblical when we know it is all about learning and living to love God”.