November 25, 2012
Love for God is proven by love for Neighbor
The question was asked of Jesus because Jesus outed the Sadducees.
The Pharisees now come to question and trap Jesus. The wisdom of the many
cannot succeed the wisdom of God. They all come together against Jesus and
still get beaten.
They come to Jesus having devised a plan to send a lawyer to
ask Jesus the question. The Bible doesn’t say they came to get knowledge but to
test His knowledge of the law. They ask Him what is the greatest law? Jesus
says, (V37) “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with
all your soul, and with all your mind.”
To love God with all your mind means opening your mind up to
learn all the ways of God and to gain His understanding. All the laws have been written saying that you
must put God first in your life and it is manifested in the way you treat your
neighbor.
Jesus then asks them if they love God with everything they
have. It’s not about trying to outsmart the next guy. When the truth of God is
spoken we either have to examine ourselves and say thank you Lord or ouch.
How much of the humanitarian work that we do is done because
we love God, because he commands us to? Do we do it because we want to look
good? Because we want cool points with God? We need to be like children who
have no motive but want to give, want to help others.
Our love of God should come from what He has done for us that we could not do ourselves. And our love for God should be shown through our love for others.
Pastor Pete
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