It All Comes Down to Love
But donʼt get the impression that following Jesus is all about joyless sacrifice. More than anything else, following Jesus boils down to two commands, which He said were the most important commandments in the Old Testament Law:
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets. (Matt. 22:37-40)
It all comes down to love. Peter expressed it well for people like us, who didnʼt see Jesus on earth but follow Him nonetheless: “Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory” (1 Pet. 1:8).
Following Jesus is not about diligently keeping a set of rules or conjuring up the moral fortitude to lead good lives. No, itʼs about loving God.
But lest we think that we can love God and live any way we want to, Jesus tells us very clearly, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (John 14:15). The love for God in the first commandment is made intensely practical in the love for our neighbors in the second
commandment. John actually tells us that if we donʼt love the people that we can see around us, then we donʼt love God, whom we canʼt see (1 John 4:20).
True love is all about sacrifice for the sake of the beloved: “By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers” (1 John 3:16). When we understand love in this light, itʼs not difficult to understand that love for God and faithful obedience to Jesus Christ cannot be separated. Godʼs love changes us from the inside out and redefines every aspect of our lives.
4. As you look at your life, how would you say that your love for God manifests itself in your
actions? (If youʼre having trouble coming up with an answer, take some time to think through
some changes you may need to make in your lifestyle.)
God's Love guides my life. He guides my job & finances, that's one of the reasons I'm generous, because He was generous. I work on loving my family and people that frustrate me. I love strangers, I try to genuinely get to know people even at the store. They are important to God, and many times the opportunity to talk about God comes up! It's amazing to me that God loves me...even when I mess up, and continually mess up, He Chose to LOVE me. CRAZY!!! There are times though that I realize that I'm still selfish in areas in my life. I realize that when I need more peace and when I want to love others more, I really need to love God more. I really need more God. Loving God and spending time with Him is central to ALL Life. Everything flows out of that! Loving others flows out of that!
ReplyDeleteGOD guides me in my money, school, how i do things everyday. and wen i mess up big time, he still forgives me because of his love. i need to show more gratitude and love for him.
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