And Jesus answering said, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God
with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with
all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself.”
Luke 10:27
I have a dear friend who has been serving the Lord all the
years that I have known her. She is gentle, kind, patient, giving, caring, and
has a heart for those who do not know Jesus. During one of our visits, she was
pouring out her heart, and for some reason I asked her this question, “Do you
really love God?” I was not trying to trap, or reprimand her. I was actually surprised
when the question came out of my mouth. Her answer was simple. She did not try
to explain herself or make excuses. She simply replied, “No.”
Her answer did not shock me because I knew, indeed she did
love the Lord. It was obvious in who she is as a person. It only showed, all
too well, her humble spirit. My friend loves the Lord, but she also knows that
there is no way she could ever love God, the way that He loves her. She knows
that she fails at loving Him with all her heart, soul, mind, and strength. Had
she asked me that question, I’m not sure I would have been as honest with my
answer.
God loves us so much that we cannot fully grasp the size of
His love. His love is measureless. We tend to look at everything in numbers and
point systems. If I make straight A’s on
my report card, maybe my parents will love me more. If I do the laundry, and
run the errands, maybe my spouse will love me more. If I buy my child this toy,
maybe he/she will love me more. We daily think of things we can do to make
others love us. In fact, we even do it to ourselves. If I lose a few pounds, read
this self-help book, and volunteer, maybe I can love myself more.
We think we can earn points by doing things because it is
instilled in us from the very beginning. God’s love is not like that. Marty,
our minister says every Sunday, “There is nothing you can do to make God love
you less.” There is also no point system where we can do things to make God love
us more. God’s boundless love does not keep a point system. He does not love
our pastor, Marty, more than a drug addicted street person, who wanders into
the service.
He loves the one sitting on the back pew, as much as the one
sitting on the front. He loves the one who gives enormous amounts of offerings,
and the one who gives none. He loves the one in jail, as much as the little old
lady who works in the nursery at church.
We need to remember that, when we see a person passed out on
the park bench, hear someone speaking rudely, watch the actions of a defiant
teen, or see the impatient person who cuts in line. They are the neighbors
Jesus speaks about, when He says, “Love your neighbor, as yourself.”
God hates the acts, yet He loves the sinner. We are all
sinners. The only difference between the Christian and the non-Christian is the
grace of God, though His Son, Jesus. So when we entertain the idea of being
better than the other person, or puffed up about what we do for the church, we
need to think again. The only good in us, is Him. Do we fully understand this
kind of love?
Do we completely love a God, who loves us like that? If we answer humbly in truthfulness, the
answer is, “No.”
Dear Lord, Thank you for your love. Help us to love you, and
our neighbors more each day. Through
Christ I pray, Amen
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