“Love the LORD your God”
Joshua 23:11
“You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all
your soul, and with all your strength” (Deuteronomy 6:5).
This is “the first and great commandment” according to Jesus
(Matthew 22:38).
We are commanded to love God. Thus, love is an action of the
will, something we can choose to do or not to do.
Love is a virtue, the attitude that desires and actively promotes
the benefit of another at one’s own expense. Love is the willingness
to work hard, deprive one’s self and suffer, for the sake of someone
else. Without love, all other virtues are worthless (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).
God is worthy of our love.
“We love Him because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19).
Men and women are created in God’s image (Genesis 1:27).
Although this image has been tarnished by sin, we learn something
about God’s love by observing man’s noblest attributes.
Our first knowledge of love comes through human relationships. A
child is loved by his mother and father, by his grandparents, by other
family members and by friends. He learns to love others.
From these relationships he also learns something about the love
of God. And parents learn something about the love of God by raising
a child.
But substantial knowledge about God’s love is available only
because of revelation. In the Scriptures God’s love is explained, and it
is demonstrated in His dealings with man.
The ultimate demonstration of God’s love was the sacrifice of His
Son on the cross to redeem man: “In this the love of God was
manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into
the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we
loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the
propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:9, 10).
When God told His people, “You shall love the LORD your God with
all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength” they had
experienced His love many times and in many ways. He had every
right to expect their love in return.
“How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God! Therefore the
children of men put their trust under the shadow of Your wings”
(Psalm 36:7). “Remember, O LORD, Your tender mercies and Your
lovingkindnesses, for they are from of old” (Psalm 25:6).
“You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart.”
Superficial religion does not please God. Most religious practices
on earth are vain formalities.
This was true of Israel when God said through Isaiah: “These
people draw near with their mouths and honor Me with their lips, but
have removed their hearts far from Me” (Isaiah 29:13).
Jesus applied this to His time: “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you
hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honors Me with their lips, but
their heart is far from Me’” (Mark 7:6).
Superficial or half-hearted worship does not please God. We must
love God with our whole heart: with feeling, sincerity and dedication.
“You shall love the LORD your God ... with all your soul.”
Even our heart is not enough. We must love God with our whole
being. Loving God is not something we do now and then. Love for
God pervades our soul, is an essential part of our being, defines who
we are, and influences all that we do.
Paul enlarges on this, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the
mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy,
acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be
conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your
mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and
perfect will of God” (Romans 12:1, 2).
“You shall love the LORD your God ... with all your mind” (Matthew
22:37).
True love for God is based on reason. We love God “with all the
understanding” (Mark 12:33).
Paul
says, “I will pray with the spirit, and I will also pray with the
understanding. I will sing with the spirit, and I will also sing with the
understanding” (1 Corinthians 14:15).“And this I pray, that your love
may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment”
(Philippians 1:9).
Our love for God must be knowledgeable. We love God with our
mind, with our whole mind.
“You shall love the LORD your God .. with all your strength.”
We must love God full force.
Although the Christians at Ephesus had persevered and had
exposed false teachers, their love had grown weak: “Nevertheless I
have this against you, that you have left your first love. Remember
therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works,
or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its
place - unless you repent” (Revelation 2:4, 5). Notice that love is
indicated by works.
Lukewarm love is not sufficient. Jesus warned the church of the
Laodiceans: “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I
could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm,
and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth”
(Revelation 3:15, 16).
Jesus said, “And because lawlessness will abound, the love of
many will grow cold” (Matthew 24:12).
Our love for God must be full strength.
“You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all
your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. This is the
first commandment” (Mark 12:30).
God must be our first love.
Love for God supplants love for self, money, pleasure and the
world: “For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, ...
lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of
godliness but denying its power” (2 Timothy 3:2, 4, 5). “Do not love
the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the
love of the Father is not in him” (1 John 2:15).
Love for God must surpass love for family. Jesus said: “He who
loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who
loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me” (Matthew
10:37).
What does it mean to love God?
Our love for God is intense adoration and affection.
We yearn for someone we love: “O God, You are my God; early
will I seek You; my soul thirsts for You; my flesh longs for You in a
dry and thirsty land where there is no water” (Psalm 63:1).
We want to be near someone we love. God’s people were told “to hold
fast to Him” (Deuteronomy 11:22) and to “cling to Him”
(Deuteronomy 30:20). They who love God are attached to Him.
Although we learn love from God, His love for us is different from
our love for him. His love is sovereign and unearned. Our love
is dependent and submissive. He is the Father, we are the toddlers.
He is the Shepherd, we are the lambs.
“Make a joyful shout to the LORD, all you lands! Serve the LORD
with gladness; Come before His presence with singing. Know that the
LORD, He is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;
We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Enter into His gates
with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to
Him, and bless His name. For the LORD is good; His mercy is
everlasting, And His truth endures to all generations” (Psalm 100:1-5).
We rejoice in someone we love. “But let all those rejoice who put
their trust in You; let them ever shout for joy, because You defend
them; let those also who love Your name be joyful in You” (Psalm
5:11).
When we love God, we want to praise and thank Him for His
goodness. “Let all those who seek You rejoice and be glad in You; let
such as love Your salvation say continually, ‘The LORD be
magnified!’” (Psalm 40:16).
How do we show our love to God?
Although love cannot be seen, it affects everything we do. “Let all
that you do be done in love” (1 Corinthians 16:14).
We want to serve someone we love. God promised to bless His
people, “if you earnestly obey My commandments which I command
you today, to love the Lord your God and serve Him with all your
heart and with all your soul” (Deuteronomy 11:13). Thus, he who
loves God with heart and soul, serves God with heart and soul.
Motivated by love we gladly obey God: “Therefore you shall love
the LORD your God, and keep His charge, His statutes, His
judgments, and His commandments always” (Deuteronomy 11:1).
When Joshua sent the Reubenites, Gadites, and half tribe of
Manasseh back to their homes on the eastern side of the Jordan, he
admonished them, “But take careful heed to do the commandment
and the law which Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, to
love the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways, to keep His
commandments, to hold fast to Him, and to serve Him with all your
heart and with all your soul” (Joshua 22:5).
In his parting words when he was old, Joshua told the people,
“Take careful heed to yourselves, that you love the LORD your God”
(Joshua 23:11).
Jesus tells His followers: “If you love Me, keep My
commandments” (John 14:15). “If anyone loves me, he will keep my
word” (John 14:23).
John explains: “For this is the love of God, that we keep His
commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome” (1
John 5:3). When we love God with our whole heart, we gladly obey
Him. “This is love, that we walk according to His commandments” (2
John 6).
We want to communicate with someone we love. We talk to God in
prayer and listen to His word in the Scriptures. Jesus said, “My sheep
hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me” (John 10:27).
We want to know someone we love and we want to be known by
the one we love. “If anyone loves God, this one is known by Him” (1
Corinthians 8:3). “He who does not love does not know God, for God
is love” (1 John 4:8).
We want to have fellowship with someone we love. Christians
show their love for God by gathering around the Lord’s table “on the
first day of the week” (Acts 20:7) to participate in the body and blood
of Christ (1 Corinthians 10:16).
What have we learned?
“You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all
your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. This is the
first commandment” (Mark 12:30).
God is worthy of our love. We love Him because He first loved us.
From human relationships we learn something about the love of God,
but substantial knowledge about God’s love is gained only through
the Scriptures. Superficial or half-hearted worship does not please
God. We present our bodies as living sacrifices. God must be our first
love. We cannot love God if we love self, pleasure, money or the
world. Our love for God must exceed our love for family.
Our love for God is intense adoration and affection. We hold fast to
God and cling to Him.
We show our love to God by serving and obeying Him. We talk to
God in prayer and listen to His word in the Scriptures. Christians show
their love for God by participating in the body and blood of Christ at
the Lord’s table each first day of the week. Our soul yearns for God.
We rejoice in Him and magnify His holy name. Amen.
Roy Davison
The Scripture quotations in this article are from
The New King James Version. ©1979,1980,1982, Thomas Nelson Inc.,
Publishers.
Permission for reference use has been granted.
Published in The Old Paths Archive
(http://www.oldpaths.com)
