The First Commandment

Matthew 22:36-40

"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."

I have been thinking about this verse since last night. I've been be-bopping around a lot of blogs lately, and let me tell you, there are some strange ideas about God and Christianity out there. This post is inspired by a comment I read on another blog. I'll just leave it at that.

Here's the thing: Jesus identified loving God as the FIRST and GREATEST commandment. That is God Himself pinpointing for us what our life ambition should be. It is the center that all the spokes in our lives should revolve around. Until you get this commandment, all the rest is irrelevant.

You can give away everything you own, you can give all your spare time in back breaking service to others, you can preach and study until you are mentally and physically exhausted, you can advocate social change and sign petitions, you can forward "Christian" emails, you can write letters to congressmen, you can drive a hybrid car, or better yet ride a bicycle, you can even praise and worship in church, but until you love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul and all your mind, you are accomplishing nothing.

Here is why. Only when your actions are a reflection of God's glory are they pleasing to God. Until then, you are acting out of self-righteousness and pride. That is blunt, but true. It may not look like self-righteousness and pride, but make no mistake, that is exactly what it is.

Notice that Jesus said to love God first, and then to love your neighbor second. We are incapable of loving our neighbor in any real way unless our love is a reflection of God's love. Until it comes from the overflow of loving God fully, there is an awful lot of YOU involved in your motives and actions. Not only that, but you will wear out and give up if you are trying to love your neighbor in your own power.

Most people are not all that lovable when you get down to the nitty gritty. I am including myself in that statement. We all have fallen short of the glory of God, we all disappoint each other, we all fail and make mistakes. None of us is perfect.

And if you make the mistake of thinking that you can learn to love God by serving your neighbor, you have it all backward. You must serve your neighbor, not in order to love God, but BECAUSE you love God. It's a big difference. One is self-motivated, the other is an outpouring of God's grace in a practical way.

And if you take away God's grace, you take away all the good news.