Love God II

Matthew 22:38 - "This is the great and first commandment."

Jesus was answering the question, "What is the greatest commandment?" He began by stating that we must love YHVH our God with all our heart, our being, and our mind. This is the great and first commandment. Everything we are, have, and do must follow from our love for God. When our focus is on loving God, we will naturally do what God wants. Of course, none of us can love God perfectly, follow Jesus perfectly. We're human after all. I’m not certain the idea is to make progress. We just do our best to keep our focus on God and let the rest go. Even without forcing it or thinking about it, we will learn to love God in all our heart, our being, and our mind.

Loving God entails doing what we think God asks of us each day. Some days we might be asked to join the Poor People’s Campaign at the Statehouse, delivering letters to gubernatorial candidates asking them to support policies that lead to the flourishing of the “least of these.” Some days we might be asked to speak out in church or in public in solidarity with those who have less power. Other days we might be called to write. We might even be asked to go to seminary or to be a missionary in a foreign country. Other days, we might be asked to take our sabbath rest. All of these are ways of loving God; none of them better than another. Loving God only requires we do what we’re asked one day at a time.

But beware! Once we start down the road of following Jesus, we’ll go further and further away from the world. Our ideas and ideals will change; they’ll be out of sync with those of the world. We might even get rid of our TV! Or maybe we’ll quit our job because it perpetuates violence in some way. Our friends and family might begin to question our sanity. We might begin to question our sanity. We might even become disciples as well as worshipers. We might begin to understand our “enemies.” We might see how they deserve love, too. If your goal in life is comfort and convenience, I’d advise you to stay away from Jesus. That’s not his goal at all.

What is Jesus asking of you today? Can you do it? If not, what would need to change first?