By Earl Johnson
When asked about the great commandment in the law, Jesus said:
"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the ~irst and great commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself." (Matthew 22:37-39) John writes: "He who does not love does not know God, for God is love." (I John 3:8) Do you want to be really close to God? Is it your first priority? Then choose the way of love. Love is the basis for a right relationship with God and with each other. It is more basic even than faith. "And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love." (I Corinthians 13:13) But what is this "love" thing all about? Many confuse love with romantic feelings of infatuation. The truth is that love, or the absence of love, determines who we are and what we do. Jesus said: "If you love Me, keep my commandments." (John 14:15) Real love is emotion in action. John wrote: "But whoever has this world's goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him? My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth." (I John 3:17-18) When we come to understand that love for God involves total submission and obedience to all His commands, and that He commands us to love everyone, friend and foe alike, we begin to see the true nature of the great God we serve."God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8) No wonder we love Him because He first loved us! But so often we do not show love like God showed us. Bitterness, pride, selfishness, prejudice, jealousy, resentment, envy...the list of evil attributes that block love for God and mankind is seemingly endless. So the issue becomes personal to each one of us: What am I doing to show love for God? Do I say I love God and still hold hatred and resentment in my heart toward others? John writes: "If someone says, 'I love God,' and hates his brother, he is a liar, for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also." (I John 4:20-21)
Do you love God? If so, then your life will show love for all men. What is the evidence that in lowliness of mind you esteem others better than yourself and that you are looking out for their interests? If the Lord's people were actively doing that, His church would be a far different--and better--body and a far greater influence for good. Isn't it time for us to stop fooling ourselves and to become very serious about being the people of love that God commands? "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus...," (Philippians 2:5) "And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment." (Philippians 1:9)