“…One of them, an expert in the
law, tested him with this question: Teacher, which is the greatest commandment
in the Law? Jesus replied: “‘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."…” Matt. 22:35-40
(NIV)…
The children of Israel, God’s
nation of old were given the Ten Commandments by God through Moses to guide
them from going against God’s laws so as not to incur His anger or attract a
punishment for breaking the law… Though for certain reasons, the children of
Israel hardly kept the laws, breaking it often times and the offering of animal
sacrifices was used to atone or cover their sins and transgressions…
During Christ’s ministry on
earth, His teachings were often strange and sometimes offensive to the then
teachers of the law, who knew much about the laws of Moses but little about
God’s actual intentions for the laws, God’s plan of salvation through His Son
Jesus, and the coming of the Holy Spirit… Therefore, they believed in and were
used to living a very religious and extremely legalistic life-style as regards
keeping the laws to proof and attain righteousness before God, of which they
often tried to accuse Christ of breaking the law because of their lack of
understanding and unbelief…
The above scripture presents one
of such occasions where Jesus gave a different perspective to the laws which
God gave to the old Israelites… The Jews knew and tried to adhere to many dos
and donts of the law including the Ten Commandments of Moses; but Jesus summed
up the whole laws in two commandments on which He based most of His teachings:
the two love commandments… This is clearly because anyone who can keep those
two has kept the whole law, as all the other laws have those two as their basis
or foundation… As the Word states: “…The
commandments, "Do not commit adultery," "Do not murder,"
"Do not steal," "Do not covet," and whatever other
commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: "Love your
neighbor as yourself." Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love
is the fulfillment of the law…” Rom. 13:9-10 (NIV)…
The Jews of old had also known
God as a LORD, Master and Judge, but Jesus introduced God not only as a Father,
but also as a Lover… The kind of love taught about by Christ is God’s kind of
love found in God’s nature; not a selfish or self-seeking love but an unconditional
and self-less love which puts that which pleases God first above all others; a
kind of love which enables one to show love to even one’s own known enemies;
just as Jesus told His followers to pray for their enemies and bless those who
curse them leaving judgment and revenge or vengeance to God; which He also
showed when He prayed for forgiveness for those who crucified Him, the same people
He came to save... Such kind of love is definitely not expressible by the
natural man who is by nature insatiable, selfish, greedy, unforgiving and
vengeful… Same applies to one’s love for God as the greatest commandment; this
can only be proven by one’s complete obedience to all of God’s commands and
serving Him in truth and in spirit, which is equally not attainable by the
natural man whose nature is rebellion and disobedience to God’s orders…
The Word says: “…Whoever has my
commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be
loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him…" John
14:21 (NIV) “…Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love…” 1John
4:8 (NIV) “…For the [true] love of God is this: that we do His commands [keep
His ordinances and are mindful of His precepts and teaching]. And these orders
of His are not irksome (burdensome, oppressive, or grievous)…” 1John 5:3 (AMP)…
However, the two love commandments
must be obeyed if one must be found pleasing and gain approval in the sight of
God; and given all the above, God’s kind of love can only be expressed by the
Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit whom every true believer receives by faith after
accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour… True love is God’s nature and can
only be produced in the natural man by the Spirit of God who dwells and bears
that fruit in Him; just as Jesus who being equally human, was able to display
because He had in Him the Holy Spirit of God without measure, so He could love
all, even the seemingly un-loveable ones… As the Word says: “…But the fruit of
the Spirit is love…” Gal. 5:22 (NIV) “…But when the Holy Spirit controls our
lives, he will produce this kind of fruit in us: love…” Gal 5:22 NLT) “…But the
fruit of the [Holy] Spirit [the work which His presence within accomplishes] is
love…” Gal 5:22 (AMP)…
It is also important to note that
the real proof of one’s faith in God is shown by one’s works; as the Word says,
faith without works is a dead faith… The works of faith are the works of love;
works done not out of selfish desires or gain but by the genuine love of God
and love for others in one’s heart enabled by God’s Holy Spirit… The Word
states: “…For [if we are] in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor
uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith activated and energized and
expressed and working through love…” Gal. 5:6 (AMP)… Therefore, just as faith
without works is dead, and faith can only work by love; faith without love is
equally powerless and ineffective… A living or active faith in God is only
recognized by its active works of love as an act of obedience to God’s
commandment, keeping in mind that without faith, one cannot please God as the
Word says… Living by faith means living by love and living by love means living
by faith and only that pleases God…
The Word states clearly: “…And
now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love…”1Cor.
13:13 (NIV)… Love is surely the greatest and anyone who fulfills the two
commandments of love: love for God and love for others as oneself in all of
one’s doings and dealings in life, has fulfilled all of God’s laws… If all of
one’s thoughts, words and actions can be checked, controlled and motivated by
God’s kind of love, then living a life pleasing to God becomes not a hard task…
Being Born Again, you are born of God by His Spirit and you have His nature of
love… You only need to strive to keep the Two Commandments of love by the power
and help of God’s Holy Spirit and you would discover that you had kept all the
Ten Commandments and grown to living the love life-style as God desires of you…
Battling with all the dos and donts
doesn’t help much; The Two Commandments: Love your God and love others as you
love yourself, is all God requires of you and that is the true life of faith…
It is not that difficult, because it is not about your efforts but about the
grace of God made available to you by His Holy Spirit; and when you’ve done all
you can and know to do in expressing true love, He will help you do what you
cannot do, as long as you ask Him to…
God’s Love is the greatest!
Nice Day Friends!
#GodIsStillInCharge
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