A Love For God"Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, andwith all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and greatcommandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor asthyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." Matthew22:37-40.Let us first consider the concept of love.There are several different types of love.There is fileos - which is tender affection.Philanthropia - which is kindness.And agape - which is a deliberate assessment of the will as a matter of duty orpropriety.The love that we have for God should be fileos as it relates to caring aboutGod's will, heart, and mind being manifest in us. That love should also bephilanthropia as it relates to the willingness to be stewards and the giving ofour time, talent, and treasure towards his purpose.Finally, that love should be agape as it relates to making Him our choiceseparate from emotions and circumstances. This is the love that establishes oursonship; that we make God our choice not only in the environment of His manifestpresence, glory and love but also when we feel alone, abandoned and detachedfrom Him.He promised to not fail nor forsake us. To that end, our commitment must be toremain devoted and committed to Him with the assistance of grace and mercy.The selected text deals with Jesus addressing a question put to him by aPharisee trying to trick Jesus into saying something that would allow foraccusation and rejection of Him. They ask Him which is the greatest commandmentin the Law of Moses.Jesus strategically and with much wisdom answers them in a way that the intendedaccusation is annulled. When we look at the answer of Jesus, we can rightfullyaccuse Him of giving two commandments that are not part of the ten given toMoses. It would almost seem as though Jesus made up two other commandments.I have asked people to quote the Ten Commandments and many have included thesetwo in them. What Jesus does here is actually summarizes the two tables of thelaw.Table one is in one hand of Moses coming down from the mountain dealing withman's relationship to God. Table two is in the other hand of Moses dealing withman's relationship to one another. So then what Jesus gives is a summary of thelaw on which all the law and all the prophets are based.Love God with all your heart. The heart is the life source of the body. Weshould love Him with our life; making Him the source of our entire existence.Love God with all your soul. The soul is the expression of our heart. We shouldlove God also in the ways that we express ourselves in what we feel; submittingall our temperament to Him.Love God with all your mind. The mind is the source of our recollection andmemory. We should love God more than the emotional and psychological effects ofour past experiences and encounters; presenting to him our yesterdays that ourtomorrows may manifest the better of us.Our love for God is a choice that empowers us to progress into the purpose anddestiny designed for our lives.
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