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And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul,
and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first
commandment.
You
must first love God with everything you have. That is the foundation upon which
everything else is predicated. “This is the first commandment” regardless of
how many modern Bible versions delete those words.
Deuteronomy
6:5 And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy
soul, and with all thy might.
The
question for the Christian is how is the love for God manifested? What is
evidence that a Christian loves God? Some would tell you that it means following
the orders of the church organization’s ruler’s in Rome. Some would say that it
means doing what your Pastor tells you to do. Some would say that it means
complying with their own personal convictions or doing what they tell you to do
and supporting their convictions, beliefs, and calling with your money, time,
and service.
There
are those who say that dying for the cause of Christ proves your love. However,
if you died as a martyr simply because you believed that earned you a “ticket
to heaven” does that mean that you love God? Or yourself?
What
are the physical manifestations, the physical evidence that a person loves the
Lord their God with all of their heart, soul, mind, and strength? The apostle
John said it clearly.
1
John 4:20 If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for
he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he
hath not seen? 21 And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God
love his brother also.
This
idea ties the first and greatest commandment to the second. One proof of the
love for God is revealed in how you love your neighbor. There’s no way around
it. If you love God as you say you do, then love your neighbor. In the parable
of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10, one’s neighbor is said to be whomever he
encounters. Anyone is your neighbor.
But,
you say, my brother or sister in Christ, and my neighbor are not necessarily
the same. Paul and James reinforce this command, however.
Galatians
5:14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love
thy neighbour as thyself.
James
2:8 If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy
neighbour as thyself, ye do well:
For
the Christian, caring for people other than yourself, whether in the body of
Christ or without, is the evidence that you love God. It is not your profession
of faith. It is your active love for others. Christians, who for purposes of
political ideology, profess a disdain for charitable, as in voluntary, giving
because “those people” whomever “those people” are don’t deserve it, or who
will not help someone or care for someone or do good for someone because they
aren’t in agreement with them should not profess they love God. They don’t.
1Thessalonians
3:12 And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another,
and toward all men, even as we do toward you:
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And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
There is none other commandment greater than these.
This
is the second commandment. You can’t please God by denying Him and then going
off to do good works, to save children in Africa, etc. etc. You must first love
God, then your neighbor. I spent fourteen years as a Christian before I
understood that I did not love God. It took my daughter’s suicide note to make
me realize that she, in her agony, could make a profession that I, who remained
alive, could not.
Then,
later, I read John Wesley’s sermon, “The Almost Christian”. Now, I am certain
that I was saved by Christ back on March 19, 1986 but, like most Christians, I
was immediately taken prisoner of war by Satan in full collusion with my flesh.
I was useless. My daughter had received Christ as her Saviour on October 7,
1990 but I had spiritually neglected her and starved her. As God’s
representative in her life I had failed to ever point toward God. To her, as
she cried out, God had abandoned her, in spite of her love for Him. That was
because I had spiritually abandoned her. It is a great evil that “Christian”
parents commit. It was her death that woke me up. What a horrible price to pay,
what a horrible wakeup call. Don’t need God to break you in order to understand.
First,
God, then others. It’s a circle. Loving others is evidence you love God.
Hatred, paranoia, fear, bigotry, and constant anger are not evidence you love
God. Oh, yeah, and your “self” is not mentioned. The key to healthy children
and healthy adults is not self-esteem. It is other-esteem. The key to proving
your love for Christ is found in your attitude and behavior toward other
people.
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And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there
is one God; and there is none other but he:
“There
is one God” regardless of how many modern Bible versions delete those words
based on a few corrupt Egyptian manuscripts.
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