Love Fulfills All
Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one. And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:28-30).
Jesus was put on the spot and His answer was 'spot on.' After all, it was not hard for Jesus to summarize the Law perfectly since He is the One who came to fulfill the Law by living a perfect life of submission to the Father and, due to His perfect union with the Father, gave the Law to Moses in the first place.
Jesus summed up all the Law with the call to live attentively and obediently by HEARING (pronounced "shammah" in Hebrew) God's command that He is the one true God and that we are to LOVE GOD with all that we are and to LOVE OTHERS no matter who they are. To put it simply, we are to love God fully and love all people in fullness.
Jesus was quoting Deuteronomy 6:4-5 and Leviticus 19:18. When these two teachings are combined, they not only reveal God's law at the highest level but they are the summary of two tablets of God's Ten Commandments. The first tablet dealing with having supreme love toward God and the second tablet having sacrificial love toward all people.
When God gives a commandment, it is a "command" we are "meant" to keep.
God's commandments keep us in alignment with God's will and allows us to give God glory and to benefit ourselves and others. God's commands are the pathway of life, order, and blessing.
In fact, it is important for us to remember this key principle:
"God only says, "NO," to protect and preserve what He first said "YES" to.
CONSIDER THIS: Every command of God that prohibits us from doing something, when taken in reverse, shows us God's greater plan to prosper us and not to harm us. God is not desiring to take away our pleasure but to give us what can be pleasurable and beneficial in the long run. For example, God tells us not to lie because He desires all of our relationships to be based on truth and honesty. God tells us not to murder because He is the Giver and Sustainer of all life from the womb to the tomb. God desires to save us from the various consequences of sexual sin and immorality so He first designed the marriage covenant where there can be holy commitment and a shared union of intimacy that will provide a loving home with two parents who are not only committed to each other but who will reflect Christ and His love toward and from His Church.
Heaven is a controlled, yet liberated, environment of absolutely pure, unadulterated, unfiltered, uninterrupted, ongoing love from God to all of His creation...without hesitation, reservation, or alteration. We are to pray for God's kingdom to come and His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. "Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty" (2 Cor. 3:17).
God's commands are a blessing when kept because they only produce blessings and benefits for those who love and learn God's ways. "His yoke is easy and His burden is light" (Matt. 11:30). This is why the Apostle John said, "For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome" (1 John 5:3)
This means that before we have a 'TO DO' List we need to have a 'TO BE' life. We need to learn to BE before we DO. After all, we were created as human beings before we are to be human doers.
Let us learn to have the right heart and the right spirit so that we can truly do all things in love.
Here is what BEING before DOING looks like:
As Paul wrote, "Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma" (Eph. 5:1-2).
We are going to have to deal with a lot of hardship and selfishness in our world. However, when just one person is willing to love God with all that they have and to love each and every person with the love that God gives to us, this world can literally be a better place.
"Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us" (Rom. 5:5).
Love is the fruit of the Spirit GIVEN TO US by God. Since God is love and mankind is not, we need God's Spirit to be actively working within us to truly help us to love unconditionally, sacrificially, and completely. This is what makes all the difference in our lives and makes a difference in someone else's life...which ends up being the addition that multiplies disciples and brings glory and honor to God.
"If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you do well (James 2:8). Jesus Himself fulfilled this at the highest level possible both teaching and demonstrating that, ”Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends" (John 15:13). Praise God for His unfailing, unending love!! His love never fails.
Let us learn to love and live like Jesus so that others will learn to love and live like Jesus as well.
Jesus was put on the spot and His answer was 'spot on.' After all, it was not hard for Jesus to summarize the Law perfectly since He is the One who came to fulfill the Law by living a perfect life of submission to the Father and, due to His perfect union with the Father, gave the Law to Moses in the first place.
Jesus summed up all the Law with the call to live attentively and obediently by HEARING (pronounced "shammah" in Hebrew) God's command that He is the one true God and that we are to LOVE GOD with all that we are and to LOVE OTHERS no matter who they are. To put it simply, we are to love God fully and love all people in fullness.
Jesus was quoting Deuteronomy 6:4-5 and Leviticus 19:18. When these two teachings are combined, they not only reveal God's law at the highest level but they are the summary of two tablets of God's Ten Commandments. The first tablet dealing with having supreme love toward God and the second tablet having sacrificial love toward all people.
When God gives a commandment, it is a "command" we are "meant" to keep.
God's commandments keep us in alignment with God's will and allows us to give God glory and to benefit ourselves and others. God's commands are the pathway of life, order, and blessing.
In fact, it is important for us to remember this key principle:
"God only says, "NO," to protect and preserve what He first said "YES" to.
CONSIDER THIS: Every command of God that prohibits us from doing something, when taken in reverse, shows us God's greater plan to prosper us and not to harm us. God is not desiring to take away our pleasure but to give us what can be pleasurable and beneficial in the long run. For example, God tells us not to lie because He desires all of our relationships to be based on truth and honesty. God tells us not to murder because He is the Giver and Sustainer of all life from the womb to the tomb. God desires to save us from the various consequences of sexual sin and immorality so He first designed the marriage covenant where there can be holy commitment and a shared union of intimacy that will provide a loving home with two parents who are not only committed to each other but who will reflect Christ and His love toward and from His Church.
Heaven is a controlled, yet liberated, environment of absolutely pure, unadulterated, unfiltered, uninterrupted, ongoing love from God to all of His creation...without hesitation, reservation, or alteration. We are to pray for God's kingdom to come and His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. "Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty" (2 Cor. 3:17).
God's commands are a blessing when kept because they only produce blessings and benefits for those who love and learn God's ways. "His yoke is easy and His burden is light" (Matt. 11:30). This is why the Apostle John said, "For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome" (1 John 5:3)
This means that before we have a 'TO DO' List we need to have a 'TO BE' life. We need to learn to BE before we DO. After all, we were created as human beings before we are to be human doers.
Let us learn to have the right heart and the right spirit so that we can truly do all things in love.
Here is what BEING before DOING looks like:
- Behold God for who He is...
- Be with Him relationally
- Be beneath His authority
- Be believing in His sufficiency
- Be becoming like Him as you love Him
As Paul wrote, "Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma" (Eph. 5:1-2).
We are going to have to deal with a lot of hardship and selfishness in our world. However, when just one person is willing to love God with all that they have and to love each and every person with the love that God gives to us, this world can literally be a better place.
"Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us" (Rom. 5:5).
Love is the fruit of the Spirit GIVEN TO US by God. Since God is love and mankind is not, we need God's Spirit to be actively working within us to truly help us to love unconditionally, sacrificially, and completely. This is what makes all the difference in our lives and makes a difference in someone else's life...which ends up being the addition that multiplies disciples and brings glory and honor to God.
"If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you do well (James 2:8). Jesus Himself fulfilled this at the highest level possible both teaching and demonstrating that, ”Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends" (John 15:13). Praise God for His unfailing, unending love!! His love never fails.
Let us learn to love and live like Jesus so that others will learn to love and live like Jesus as well.
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