When asked what the greatest commandment is, Jesus replied, “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. And a second is: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets” (Matthew 22:37-40)
This is what God wants for and from us but I think that if we are honest with ourselves, our natural tendency is to love our self more then anything or anyone else. When left on our own, we cannot keep this command. It doesn’t offer life because when we try to love God with our own strength and devoid of the gospel we do so in a legalistic religious way. It doesn’t give life as it was meant to, but condemnation. The book of 1 John paints a beautiful picture of what it actually this looks like. We learn that not only is loving God and neighbor a command but also so much more.
By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us 1 John 3:16
Love is the root of the gospel. It was love that moved the Son to offer himself as our sacrifice. Because of the wicked, corrupt, and depraved effects of sin in our lives, we would never choose God or move towards him. While we were still sinners, still in rebellion, still willingly rejecting and denying him, he died for us. This goes against the pity definition of love that we as a society has created. Its radical, ruthless, shocking, scandalous and completely counter intuitive to the human heart. This is what love is. God defines it but he doesn’t stop there, he actually fulfills it and shows us what it looks like. Love is not passive, but it is also active.
We love because he first loved us 1 John 4:19
Love is the fruit of the gospel. Out of an understanding of this great love that he has for us, only then can we be fueled to love others in the same way. In understanding that in our worst, God have us his best can we be motivated to serve and love others in a way that is unconditional and selfless. Only in understanding that he died in our place for our sin, can we truly live this out, That means servings, investing, building up each other in a way that is completely selfless. Its about giving without expecting anything back.
This is what God wants for and from us but I think that if we are honest with ourselves, our natural tendency is to love our self more then anything or anyone else. When left on our own, we cannot keep this command. It doesn’t offer life because when we try to love God with our own strength and devoid of the gospel we do so in a legalistic religious way. It doesn’t give life as it was meant to, but condemnation. The book of 1 John paints a beautiful picture of what it actually this looks like. We learn that not only is loving God and neighbor a command but also so much more.
By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us 1 John 3:16
Love is the root of the gospel. It was love that moved the Son to offer himself as our sacrifice. Because of the wicked, corrupt, and depraved effects of sin in our lives, we would never choose God or move towards him. While we were still sinners, still in rebellion, still willingly rejecting and denying him, he died for us. This goes against the pity definition of love that we as a society has created. Its radical, ruthless, shocking, scandalous and completely counter intuitive to the human heart. This is what love is. God defines it but he doesn’t stop there, he actually fulfills it and shows us what it looks like. Love is not passive, but it is also active.
We love because he first loved us 1 John 4:19
Love is the fruit of the gospel. Out of an understanding of this great love that he has for us, only then can we be fueled to love others in the same way. In understanding that in our worst, God have us his best can we be motivated to serve and love others in a way that is unconditional and selfless. Only in understanding that he died in our place for our sin, can we truly live this out, That means servings, investing, building up each other in a way that is completely selfless. Its about giving without expecting anything back.
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