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There Is A Third

 

When being challenged by a religious leader, Jesus once said that the two greatest commandments were to “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 have been pondering both of these a lot.

When it comes to loving God, the word “ALL” keeps jumping out at me. ALL of my heart, ALL of my soul. ALL of my mind pretty much sums up ALL of me, which means I need to love God with everything I am. But contrary to popular belief, love is not an emotion – love is a choice of action (check out 1 Corinthians 13 for some dos and don'ts). Jesus said, “If you love Me, obey My commandments.” (John 14:15) This is a very clear if/then statement. IF we love God, then we WILL OBEY Him, and obedience is a choice of action that often defies our emotions or desire. We are loving God when we choose to obey Him. We are choosing to NOT love God when we disobey Him. Period.  We need to KNOW His Word and be FILLED with His Holy Spirit so that we know Him and what His commandments are. If we say that we love God, then ALL of who we are should be dedicated to knowing Him and obeying Him.

[This is not to say that emotions don’t enter into our relationship with God – actually they should and do very much because people in dust are emotional people. I know my affection for God burns like a fire within me and roars like a mighty wind most days. That affection does help motivate me to love Him in return as I witness what a Gloriously awesome God He is! But even on the days I just don’t ‘get’ Him – I can love Him by choosing to obey Him even when it doesn’t make sense.]

“Loving my neighbor as myself” has been a little trickier concept for me, one that I have bandied around in my head a bit. I finally concluded that I think it means that I need to care for the people around me in the same way I need/long to be cared for. I need to see and meet whatever needs I can (@food, shelter, comfort, truth spoken, etc.) in regard to the people within my vision. I need to “Good Samaritan” it as often as I can. At least that’s what I think “as self” means.

There is a “but” to this story that is coming up right now (doesn’t it always seem that there is a but to every story?) BUT, if my neighbor is also my brother (a fellow believer in Christ) then Jesus gave us a new commandment that applies to this relationship. Directly after washing His disciples’ feet, Jesus said to them (John 13:34-35) “So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are My disciples.” 

YIKES!! That is a huge statement. If the neighbor standing in front of me is also my brother, then the debt I owe to him is more than food, clothing, and basic needs. To love as Jesus loves me…...that requires commitment to the good of my brother: a willingness to speak truth at all cost, a willingness to stand for him when he cannot stand for himself, a willingness to intercede before God on his behalf, a willingness to wash his dirty feet, a willingness to challenge/correct him in his sin, a willingness to encourage him to take a chance on faith, a willingness to face down the Liar to set him free, and ultimately a willingness to sacrifice my own life if necessary for the redemption of his soul. These are some, but not all of the ways that Jesus loves us, so…….Again – YIKES! Jesus is a hard act to follow, and yet, He commanded us to love each other as He loved/loves us.

This is going to take a lot of pondering on my part, so this will be the first blog without a concluding paragraph. I hope you ponder with me. And as always, you know my email address, so any and all thoughts are welcome!




Comments

  1. AnonymousFebruary 7, 2024 at 1:03 PM

    I will ponder with you...

    ReplyDelete
  2. DCooperFebruary 8, 2024 at 6:35 AM

    Well said, Ruth. I appreciate you framing love as primarily an action rather than an emotion, as not only is that more biblical, but also more practicable. If emotions were the source and strength of our love, it would be, at best, inconsistent and unreliable.

    Also, I am grateful for your emphasis on obedience as the primary evidence of our love. Somehow we have so adulterated the gospel that we have created the impression that obedience and Lordship are optional, available for over-achieving Christians who want extra credit (like Mother Theresa), but not necessary for most of us "normal" Christians. But Jesus made obedience the baseline. It is foundational and inherent to love. Very simply, if we don't obey God, we don't love Him. And if that sounds radical or harsh, that says more about us and the current state of our discipleship than it does about Jesus, who is, after all, the King. Well said, sister.

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