How Can We Come Together in Our Pursuit of Loving God and Each Other?
We hear about growing in our walk with the Lord, but when was the last time you heard someone talk about growing in their love for God? We sing about loving God all the time. Words are easy.
When one of the scribes asked Jesus what the most important commandment was, He responded:
“The most important is ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength’” (Mark 12:29-30).
All the time, with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength.
We often measure our walk by what we do, say, or think (or what we don’t do, say or think). Yet, love for God is evidenced in our obedience to Him, and not just in the doing. This in itself isn’t true obedience. True obedience is evidenced by the posture of our whole being (i.e., heart, soul, and strength) in the doing.
Jesus continues, “The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:31). Bummer, it was so much easier to just love God; He’s awesome. People on the other hand, well not so much.
1 John 4:20-21 reminds us of this commandment: “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.”
Full obedience (with heart, soul, and strength) is evidenced in our love for whoever God has placed in our path. Consider this: Have difficult people been placed in your life as an invitation from God to pursue a deeper love for Him?
In our loving, we also express an invitation to others to seek out the one who loved us first.
Having believers in our lives to keep us accountable is absolutely invaluable. It takes humility, knowing that someone will see our imperfections and where we fall short. But how can they help us if they don’t know our struggles and what gets in the way of loving God (and others) fully? On our own, we can deceive ourselves by rationalizing unhealthy behaviors and patterns of thought, which then become habits of behavior and thought. We need others to help us see ourselves more clearly.
We love God by how we love others, and we honor Him with the posture of our heart in that process.
Laureen Mgrdichian, Women’s Ministry Director