An Infinitely Greater Love [Mt 22:37-40]

And He said to him, “‘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 foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”

Jesus proclaimed that all Scripture hangs upon two commandments – to love God and to love neighbor.

What if we were to reverse this Great Commandment? Would it still be as great? Love your neighbor with all your heart, soul, and mind; and love God as yourself. Sounds strange, doesn’t it? It should. Imagine trying to love God as you love yourself, or trying to love yourself as you are to love God. While that might sound strange; for many who profess to love God and yet put themselves before God, it’s a reality. What Jesus is saying overall is this – I must have first place in your life! How do we make this a reality? First, we must see Him as He says that He is…according to His Word. Do our lives testify that HE is Almighty God? If we were to say they do, then are we consistently fulfilling the requirements necessary in order to make such a bold statement? Requirements? Does God actually give requirements? 

He has told you, O man, what is good. And what does The Lord require of you? But to do justice, to love kindness (grace), and to walk humbly with your God? [Micah 6:8]

According to this verse, God has three overall requirements. Each deal with different aspects of how we are to live out our greater love for God – to do…to love…to walk. We are to do what is right in the sight of God, to graciously love others, and to willingly place ourselves under God’s ultimate authority. 

Even more convicting and challenging is Jesus’ overall criteria for the kind of love that God requires--

Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I came to turn a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a person’s enemies will be the members of his household. The one who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and the one who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. [Mt 10:34-37]

Jesus makes it crystal clear – we are never to love God as we love ourselves or anyone else. Our love for God must be infinitely greater. So, when someone says, “I have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ,” how personal is it really? Is it a relationship based upon a solemn commitment to live according to God’s standards as set in His Word? Is it personal enough to where one humbly worships God every day throughout each day (in all that is said and done)? And who gets to determine if one’s worship of God reaches a level that is acceptable to God? Only The One who created us for “His” glory does!

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities – all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. [Col 1:15-17]

The kind of commitment that Our God requires is much more than a concession or an acknowledgement that HE is God in the flesh. Jesus wants more than just our proclamations that HE is who He in His Word says that He is. What Jesus requires of us is a covenant of love that is greater than any love we have for anyone else…including ourselves. In this Great Commandment, Jesus is personally telling each of us – I want and require and deserve to have first place in your life. This is what it means to – love The Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind…’ [Luke 10:27]. There is no greater love…nor should there be.