Love The Lord Your God With All Your Heart And With All Your Soul And With All Your Your Mind
Love Is A Choice And An Action
MATHEW 22:34-40
“But when the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying
,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.”
”Matthew 22:34-35, 37-40 NKJV
https://www.bible.com/114/mat.22.34-35,37-40.nkj
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Jesus, answered the question that the Sadducees had always used to trap the Pharisees and silenced them. But the Pharisees were too proud to be impressed, and was more interested in defeating Jesus than learning the truth.
Today, we see the same tactics to bring division into the church. Some making statements on social media platforms such as “woman can’t be leaders” and “God’s people cannot be demonised”.
These posts are not always about discussion, but rather sourced by the demonic to bring division.
Therefore, whatever is being prophesied or taught, test and approve by testing the spirits (1 JOHN 4:1-5), the source of the statement. If the source is of the Holy Spirit, it will be true, if not, disregard it.
The Pharisees, who had classified over 600 laws, often tried to distinguish which one was the most important. So one of them, an expert in religious law, asked Jesus to identify the most important law. Jesus quoted from DEUTERONOMY 6:5 and LEVITICUS 19:18, saying, “ ‘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.””
Matthew 22:37-40 NKJV
People often confuse love with lust; God’s kind of love is more than words or a feeling, it is a choice of care toward others.
Jesus said, love your neighbor as yourself; that is to say, we believers must care for others as we care about ourselves.
When someone is in need and unable to help themselves, we believers have a natural duty of care toward that person that comes from God. Whether love is for God or others, it is a love that is unconditional and without the expectation of anything in return.
This kind of love only comes from God; “We love Him because He first loved us.”
I John 4:19 NKJV
To love God or others is a decision and a choice, a choice of care and to serve without agendas or expectation of payment.
That is not to say we shouldn’t ask God for provision, of course we should, He is our provider, but provision shouldn’t be a condition of service.
By fulfilling these two commands of love, a person keeps all the others Commandments. They summarize the Ten Commandments and the other Old Testament moral laws.
Jesus said, that if we truly love God and our neighbour, we will naturally keep the commandments.
Rather than worrying about what we should not do, we should focus on all we can do to show our love to God and others.
Love is the very foundation of God's way of life. If only more people would put these great commandments of love into practice, this world would soon become a better place to live.
As a Christian, you may keep all of God's laws; you may give to the needy, and do good things throughout your life, but if your works and good deeds come from selfish ambitions, to look good, gain status, receive payment, or even to purchase salvation, rather than from love, all these things are useless.
“Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away. When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known. And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.“
I Corinthians 13:1-13 NKJV
Love is a choice and an action to care about our neighbours, not just in our street, village, or surrounding cities, but throughout the nations and must extend to even our enemies (MATHEW 5:43-44).
Jesus came to save; that was a choice and an action that came from His unfailing love regardless of our sin (JOHN 3:16).
He hated the sin, but loves the sinner and it is His example we believers are called to follow.
All glory to God forever and ever. Amen.
