In Jesus day there were rules. In fact, there were 613 rules to follow that were laid out in The Torah (first 5 books of the Bible). And the way that the religious leaders of Jesus’ days were interpreting them and teaching them kind of became more important than, well, God.
In fact, the religious leaders kind of didn’t like Jesus so much because He would challenge some of their interpretations of the rules. You see, Jesus didn’t like what they were teaching and he was trying to show them how blind or getting caught up in details they were being, and how they were ending up teaching people the wrong stuff. And Jesus attracted these huge crowds when he would teach and word was spreading like crazy about all the things he was saying! I think that these Pharisees probably didn’t like that he was becoming more “popular” than they were.
And so at the point in Scripture in yesterday’s lectionary (Matthew 22:34-46), these religious leaders tried to use the situation to their advantage. I think they were secretly hoping to discredit Jesus to the crowds. And so they asked Jesus what they thought was a very hard question. They wanted to know which of the 613 was the most important.
Jesus didn’t even hesitate; he simply replied that there are two that are equally important.
1. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, strength. (of course, a commandment)
2. Love your neighbor as yourself. (from Deuteronomy)
So this got me thinking.
Most of us would say that we love God. And saying we love God is one thing but defining and putting feet and hands on exactly HOW we love God is a little more difficult. Think about it … how do you love God?
Is loving God simply an action? Is it a feeling? Exactly how is it that we love God? How do we love this being we can’t see or touch or get a verbal response from (like we can each other).
I think a lot of people would say that you love God by following the commandments / the rules. But I’m not sure I believe loving God is just doing the right thing. Yes, I just said that! Now, don’t get me wrong, following the rules is really, really important.
And, I don’t believe that love is just patient and kind and things like that, because I LOVE my husband but it’s not always easy to be patient when he doesn’t do things how I want them and I LOVE my sister but I am certainly not always kind to her just because I love her. Following the commandments, being patient and kind … that’s what love looks like when it walks and talks but it’s not L-O-V-E.
Here’s what I do think … loving God is about passion.
Passion is how much you LOVE that thing you can just get so caught up in that you lose track of everything else. For me it’s singing at the top of my lungs when I am alone in the car! Or, Mexican food!
Here’s what else I think … loving God is action!
You could say, it is a way of life. In other words, if someone generally were to look at your life would they be able to recognize that you have that passion for God? I think that is what it means to be truly in love with God! And these actions easily include that second part of Jesus’ greatest commandment. Our love for God is what empowers us to love other people. Think about this … if you are making a fist or pointing fingers, can you hold someone’s hand?
And one more thought …. being in love with God is an art, the result of practice and commitment.
Jesus / our faith is not some little accessory that we take on and off each day, on the top of our lives as though it were a cherry on ice-cream or a piece of jewelry. Jesus isn’t just some thing we turn to when times get rough. This quote from my devotion this morning sums it up perfectly: “God doesn’t merely want our Sunday morning love, he wants our Friday night love. He doesn’t want our Sunday School love, he wants our love in math class. Sure, we love God when we read the Bible, but how about when we read our textbooks … we’re afraid of what it would cost us to love God with the ‘all’ Jesus commands.” Loving God this way is costly and it does require a great deal of effort.
The rewards of living our lives in love with God are immeasurable. So, remember, loving God is about passion, involves action, and is an art that requires practice and commitment.
How do you love God?
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