By David ReayFriday 21 Feb 2014LifeWords DevotionalsFaithReading Time: 0 minutes
Transcript:
Read Matthew 22:34-40
34-36 When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees they came up to him in a body,and one of them,an expert in the Law,put this test-question: “Master,what are we to consider the Law’s greatest commandment?”
37-40 Jesus answered him,”‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,with all your soul,and with all your mind’. This is the first and great commandment. And there is a second like it: ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself’. The whole of the Law and the Prophets depends on these two commandments.” (JBP)
When we say we love another person,we need to be careful that we mean what we say and we know what we mean. It is all too easy to love what they do for us,to love the benefits they provide. All too easy to love them because they love us,because they are particularly loveable. None of this need cause us to despair,it is just a reminder that any human love is shot through with mixed motives and a degree of self-centredness.
But our love for others can be more deeply genuine and less self-absorbed if we ensure this love arises out of a prior love for God. This love frees us to love others in the way he loves us. Love for God reminds us that it is not all about us but all about him. Just as human love is all about the other not about us.
As we trust God to look after us and devote ourselves to following the ways of Jesus,we are not so bound to be seeking security and affirmation and meaning from others. True,they can give us these things in some measure. But if we lean on them rather than God then we are not free to truly love these people. We are takers rather than givers.
Love God,love others: this is what Jesus places at the top of the list. But love of God is the key to every other love.
Blessings
David Reay