“Jesus answered him, “ ‘Love the Lord your God with every passion of your heart, with all the energy of your being, and with every thought that is within you.’ This is the great and supreme commandment. And the second is like it in importance: ‘You must love your friend in the same way you love yourself.’”Matthew 22:37-39 TPT.
Let’s put this verse in context. An expert in the law went to speak with Jesus. This man was a serious God-fearing sort of man – but his ultimate aim was to test the Lord’s right to claim who He said He was and do what He was doing. Chapter 23 of Matthew shows Jesus interacting with the religious leaders of the day. These men regarded themselves as the keepers of the true faith, so they stood against anything that appeared to be new. They took their faith very seriously.
We need to remember that Jewish people, even today, are living the way they do to please God and they’ve been living this way for centuries! I found that they have 613 commandments in their faith, and these precious people do their best to obey them … to the letter of the law. That’s devotion. I am not going to comment on what I think about the way they live, I simply want to point out that Jesus took all those commandments from that time, and summed them up in TWO.
It must be very clear to anyone reading this blog that I am not an expert in these matters, as a matter of fact I have no information about what laws were current in those days, I just simply want to say this – I guarantee you that what Christ said — covered them all! Please do note, that the Lord said the second commandment He gave was like the first. This is my point today, He gave that second commandment weight and importance by what He said in that moment.
I wanted to write about heavenly treasures today, because I think it is an error to push our families, or the even people around us to one side, and simply say: “I’m going after God first.” Paul himself said we’d be better off not married because marriage produces divided loyalties! When we go after God we may be doing our best to obey the first commandment, but if we are not careful we could be going after the letter of the law – but not what is at its heart. Using the bible to prove any point is like using God’s word as a sledgehammer. His Word is like pure clean water and soap – it is not an implement to bash people. Remember, at the heart of God’s law is always LOVE. And we have a great checklist in 1 Corinthians 13 – so we know what love looks like, and what the Lord Himself is looking for!
I said all that to explain that we can’t use obeying God as an excuse to dodge our responsibilities. EG: If your kid has blood pouring out somewhere then that kid needs to be your priority. Nor can we gloss over our responsibilities as a spouse or a parent, by making prayer meetings, etc. more important than they are. We cannot let rules discount genuine human needs. And yes, that means we must ask the Holy Spirit to help us …all the time. Sometimes, we may even need to protect our spouse from themselves, because they may say, in a spirit of co-operation … even though they are ill: “I’m OK really – you go.” Think about this subject like this, who on earth can compete with this statement: ‘God told me.’ (??)
I like that word ‘neighbour’ better than ‘friend’ and in some versions it says ‘neighbour.” You can choose your friends, but you can get stuck with your neighbours. Obviously, one of those two things will test us more! And now might be a good time to remember that the word ‘love’ is a verb not a noun! Love looks like something. It looks like food to the hungry. Being included to the lonely. Comfort for the grieving. Undeserved kindness. Love doesn’t have to constantly look after itself because the Lord watches over those who live in Love.
Love also looks like a listening ear, and a big box of tissues to the heartbroken. We must learn to treat people as valuable, because no matter how broken they are – they are incredibly valuable to Him. We don’t get to choose who God will love and redeem … that’s His job! Jesus put a price on mankind that was extraordinary – we are worth His life! His choice increased every single human being’s value.
Faith is personal. That means somebody else can’t give it to you, all they can do is give you an opportunity to embrace it. Everybody around us, on the bus, in the shops, at the beach, at school, at work – every single person is a treasure to God. That’s why Jesus emphasised loving our neighbour like ourselves. And I think that’s why He told the story of the Good Samaritan … but that’s for another day. Bye. 👋
“If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates (works against) his [Christian] brother he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.” 1 John 4:20.
