11/25/2018
The human view of knowing is based almost totally on our minds, as evidenced by the fact that we judge the worth of each other based on intelligence and intellectual achievement, but although God places value in that as well, He founds His judgement of our relationship with Him on what happens in our hearts. Do you love God? This is the greatest commandment! This is the greatest of our emotions, and is not an intellectual pursuit that we can control and dictate. It is the greatest commandment indeed.
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.”
Deuteronomy 6:5-6 ESV
People “fall” in love. We use this expression because it indicates that we do this when our mind isn’t in control of what is happening to our heart... otherwise we would say something like “we “reason” ourselves to be in love.”, and if man had a choice in this, that would be his true desire. We hate to mentally lose control of what is happening in us, and to our lives. But isn’t that exactly what the realm of emotion is? We like to “think” we are in total control of it, and yet the greatest part of us is that portion we call emotion, and it truly dictates who we are. Some of these emotions we can control somewhat with our minds, but our ability to manage them is a loose one. So is it any wonder that God wants us to love Him? After all, it is an emotion that is most powerful, and controlled by that inexplicable part of us... our spirit... which, after all, is who we are, and the foundation on which we build our intellect, and character.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.”
Proverbs 3:5 ESV
“Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.”
Proverbs 4:23 ESV
Proverbs is a book of pragmatic truths, so when we read verses such as these, the verses of wisdom it contains that deal with emotion, they are teaching us how to apply reason to our unreasonable attributes... it does this so that we can feel in control, and know how to deal logically with them. We know that we have fallen in love by reason of the evidence... our face flushes, our mind can’t stop thinking about someone, we say and do awkward things... well you know the list. Yet wisdom is a different thing, and is how we deal most appropriately with this inexplicable reality of love, hate, sadness, joy, fear... and all the others.
“Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the Lord!”
Psalms 31:24 ESV
So if love is the foundation of the greatest commandment, what is the foundation of the second greatest? Well it is no surprise, but love is at the heart of it as well...
“"Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?" 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 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."”
Matthew 22:36-40 ESV
All of the law is based on emotion... on love. Does this surprise you? Does this unsettle your reasoning mind? Does this shake the halls of academia? Well it might if you have spent your life in pursuit of human intellectual accomplishment and perfection. Denying our emotionally dominated selves is preparing ourselves for the fall. How did the serpent convince Eve to eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil... he used logic...
“Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God actually say, 'You shall not eat of any tree in the garden'?"”
Genesis 3:1 ESV
Had Eve listened to her heart she most certainly wouldn’t have taken that first bite, but when the serpent’s reasoning appealed to her desire to be like a God... then her fate was sealed. Focusing ourselves on loving God brings our core self into alignment with a His will for us. Listen to a wonderful description by Andrew Murray...
“It is with the heart that man believes and comes into contact with God. It is in the heart that God has given His Holy Spirit to reveal the presence and power of God working in us. In our efforts to follow God, it is the heart that must trust, love, worship, and obey. The mind is completely incapable of creating or maintaining the spiritual life. It is the heart that must wait on God.” - Andrew Murray
So love is the root of our relationship with God, and is the heart of the perfection of our faith. Paul says as much in his first letter to the Corinthians when he writes these words...
“Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.”
1 Corinthians 13:8-10 ESV
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for loving me, and creating me in such a way that I am able to love you. I thank you for the love of your Son Jesus Christ who, looking down from the cross, asked you to forgive us... what greater love was there than this? You are the source and the perfecter of love within me, and beyond all else in my life I cherish this as treasure. Without love I cannot know you Father, but in this love, I will one day know you completely. Though all else will fall away when perfect comes, your love will remain, and in it we will dwell through eternity. Help me Holy Father to place those things by which I claim value and self-worth into their proper perspective. Let knowledge and wisdom, which serve me in this world, kneel before the love you have breathed into me... for it is life, and it is the height, and breadth of our relationship. Praised be your name Merciful Father, and great is your grace by which your love was able to redeem me on the cross. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you the God of love, and the purveyor of loving gifts; loving kindness, loving goodness, loving mercy, and the love in every good thing you bestow upon us. Glory is yours always and we shout of your virtue and love to all creation.
Rich Forbes