Love The Lord

Good afternoon, welcome to the Panhandle and this weekly blog. As we look at the 49 General Commands of Christ Jesus “Love the Lord,” is next on the list. “Love the Lord,” what does that mean to you? What does it mean for your life to “Love the Lord”? For some in the world it mean literally putting their life on the line, and yet they continue to “Love the Lord.” If this is you my praters go out to you, that you would remain strong in the faith and that our Lord and Saviour, Christ Jesus would put a hedge of protection around you and yours.

Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 36 "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" (Matthew 22:34-36). The religious leaders who were on hand to hear Christ Jesus preaching joined together to put Christ Jesus to the test. Our verses today is Christ Jesus' response to that test. So come on in, sit a spell, and let's dig into God's Word together.

And He said to him, “‘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 foremost commandment.” (Matthew 22:37-38).

Which is the great commandment? Christ Jesus answered the lawyer’s question by quoting Deuteronomy 6:5 and then Leviticus 19:18. Both Deuteronomy 6:5 ~ "You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” and Leviticus 19:18 ~ "You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the LORD.” were often quoted in rabbinic ethical discussions and debated by the Jewish schools. The best Jewish opinion coincided with our Lord, Christ Jesus’.

Philo, a contemporary of Christ Jesus, says, ‘To speak briefly, of the innumerable detailed exhortations and commandments, the two which in the most general manner sum up the whole, are the duties of piety and holiness towards God, and of loving kindness and justice towards man.”¹

“First and greatest” (v. 38) refers to one, not two, qualities: the “and” is used to explain, i.e., this command is first because it is the greatest. The second (v. 39) also concerns love, this time toward one’s “neighbor,” which in Leviticus 19:18 applies to a fellow Israelite or resident alien, but which, Luke 10:29–37 expands to anyone who needs our help.

Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart. The meaning of this is, you shall love God with all your ability or power. You should love Him supremely, more than all other beings and things, and with all enthusiasm or passion possible. I am an airplane enthusiast, and also a history enthusiast. We can be enthusiastic about many things, but nothing should surpass our enthusiasm for God. In the same way I'm passionately in love with my wife and kids, but not as passionately in love with God. You see to love God with all your heart is to fix your affections on Him, more strongly than on anything else, and to be willing to give up all that we hold dear at His command. Again I love my family more than anything else this world has to offer, more than life itself; but as much as I love them I love God more.

With all thy soul. Or, with all your life. This means, to be willing to give your life to God, and to devote your life to His service; to live for Him.

With all thy mind. To submit your intellect to God’s will. This is to love God’s law and gospel more than we do the decisions of our own minds. To be willing to submit all our faculties to His teaching and guidance, and to devote to God all our intellectual attainments and all the results of our intellectual efforts.

With all thy strength. With all the faculties of soul and body. To labor and toil for God’s glory, and to make that the object of all our efforts.

Everything we do should be done to the glory of God. From the biblical viewpoint, “heart,” “soul,” and “mind” are not mutually exclusive but overlapping categories, together demanding our love for God to come from our whole person, our every part of our being.

So once more the love of God is the first and great commandment, and the sum of all the commands of the Law. Our love of God must be sincere, not in word and tongue only. All the powers of the soul and spirit must be engaged for Him, and carried out toward Him.

Thanks for dropping by and I'll see ya next week. Until then the Lord's blessings for you and yours.

Biblesurfer

1 J. R. Dummelow, ed., A Commentary on the Holy Bible (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1936), 698.