The Greatest Commandments

 

The Greatest Commandments

"A lawyer asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?"

Jesus said to him, " 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.'  This is the first and great commandment.  And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'  On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets."  (Matt 22:35-40)

Wow!  When Jesus answers, He really puts it on the bottom shelf, doesn't He?  He condensed the entire Law and all the teaching of the Prophets into two commands!   If I love God with my entire being, and love my neighbor as myself, then I'm doing everything He asks of me!  Wow!  I can get my mind around that, can't you?  Just two things - love God, love people.  So clear . . . should be simple, right?  Ah . . . that's where the rub comes in!

When I was a young Christian, I was certain that my 'job' was to learn what the Word told me to do and then do it; confess whenever I failed as soon as I recognized that I'd failed, and get back to it.  But I found, as every seeker of God has found since the beginning of man, that I CANNOT live a godly life.  I'm not holy.  I struggle with my human nature - my sin nature - they are one and the same.  My nature tells me NOT to let anyone control me, NOT to give in - let alone submit - to anyone, to watch out for myself first, and to give love only to the people who treat me the way I want to be treated.  How about you?  Honestly, sometimes I can muster up enough sense, courage or selflessness to do loving things - but all the time?  With all my heart, mind and soul?  Can't do it.  And I lived in secret as a defeated Christian, hoping no one else would know that I wasn't making the mark.

But Jesus told us upfront that we could NEVER do what He asks us to do on our own.  (How did I miss that?!!!)  Only He can give us the power to live out God's commands, only He can give us a new nature, a new heart, a new set of desires to love Him and obey Him.  "He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing."  (John 15:5)  He NEVER asked us to learn the commands of God and then 'get out there and do them!'  As a matter of fact, it's our inability to live up to the commands of God that shows us that we need a Savior - someone to save us from our own sinful condition.  We need Jesus . . . and He knew that, so He came. 

God's design is for man to live in union with God.  When God told Adam and Eve that if they ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they would surely die, He meant it.  The trouble comes in our misunderstanding of death.  We think of death as the end of life here on earth - when our body ceases to function.  That's not death - that's just the end of our life here on earth.  Death is separation from God.  Man, on our own, is separated from God, and our sin keeps us separated.  Jesus' sacrificial death payed the price for our sin, and His resurrection affirmed that He has conquered death.  By believing that Jesus died to pay for my sins, confessing that I am a sinner and asking Him to forgive me, Jesus voluntarily pays my debt.  I am now forgiven, and the Holy Spirit of God takes up His home within me.  He gives me a NEW heart, one that is Holy and capable of obeying God, and begins the internal work of transforming me into the likeness of Jesus.  My part is to consciously choose to be in His presence, learning of Him, letting Him love me, and asking Him for the power to do the things He is leading me to do.  And guess what He leads me to do?  Love Him, and love others as I love myself.

Btw, there are three loves there - did you see that?  Love God.  Love others.  Love them as I love myself.  For many of us, learning to love ourselves is a HUGE part of the transformation process.  I have to let God love me, begin to love myself as He does, and then love others that same way.  Jesus was never teaching us to learn a bunch of rules and then go out and apply them.  He was calling us back to the Father through Himself, the Son, so that we could be reunited with God through the Holy Spirit.  As we spend time in relationship with Him, we learn to be like Him, we start to want to think and act like Him, and SO fulfill the law.

Jesus spoke much about love - I want to include two other teachings here.  How are we supposed to love other people?  Jesus gave us the most straight-forward answer of all, what we've come to call the Golden Rule.  "And just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise."  (Luke 6:31)  Beautifully simple, isn't it?  Before I respond or act, I can just ask myself "Would I want them to respond or act toward me this way?"  Gorgeous test!  If yes, go ahead.  If no, don't.  LOVE it!!!

Then He spoke a commandment that sobers me right up.  "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.  By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."  (John 13:34,35)  That really ups the ante, doesn't it?  How will people know that I'm a Christ follower?  By the way that I love them.  I'm thinking about the irritation that frequently creeps into my voice when I start talking to my husband about his "archivist" tendencies and how it's really just a bunch of clutter!  I'm thinking about the way I talk over my shoulder to my kids while I'm in the midst of doing something else.  I'm thinking about the way we spend our money . . . when so many have so little, and we know such plenty.  I'm finding that my identity in Christ - and the ability for people to see that there is a supernatural work going on inside me by God Himself - is intimately tied to my attitudes and priorities.  I must continually choose to sit in His presence and soak in His nature and character so that He can transform the deepest parts of me.  That means making time in my day to sit quietly, reading my Bible and asking Him to speak to me through it.  It means talking to Him throughout the day about my feelings, my thoughts, my impulses and reactions.  All this is inside of me, unseen by anyone else, and must take place continually if ANYONE is going to find my love - which is expressed outwardly - to be a proof of my life with God.  

So today God, while our minds are full and our hearts are yearning to experience life and love the way You desire us to, help each one of us to choose to be with you in quiet stillness, and let You love us as only You can, teaching us how to love ourselves and each other.  Lead us in this way that we may glorify You, and cause others to desire to be reconciled and united with You too.  We love you . . . and we want to love You well.  Teach us.

(Here is the link to the kid's page:  http://elizabethtreger1.blogspot.com/2014/12/christmas-countdown-dec-5.html)