Mark 12:28-31
28 And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all? 29 And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: 30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength: this is the first commandment. 31 And the second is like, namely this, You shall love your neighbour as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these.
Loving God is about obeying Him. Jesus said, "If you love me, keep my commandments" (John 14:15). So, that means being careful to do what is pleasing to God, not what He hates (He hates all sins). That's what shows love toward God.
As for the degree of it, "with all your heart, mind, soul and strength," that simply means nothing and no one is going to be more important or appealing to you than doing the will of God. Because when you would disobey God to do something that is not pleasing to Him, you just wouldn't show that you love God. And since God calls people to a relationship with Him, it's like being married and wanting to please your spouse only. If your love for your spouse isn't how it should be, then that's when you have a door open to unfaithfulness.
For God, love is expressed in obeying Him (doing his will), and faithfulness simply means to always be doing that, not failing to love Him all the time or even once in a while by willfully disobeying Him and sinning. If your love for God is how it should be ("with all your heart, mind, soul and strength"), you are not going to know right from wrong and still choose to do wrong (that's willfully sinning and unfaithfulness toward God).
So, faith in God is about being faithful to love Him/do his will.
Galatians 5:6
For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love.
1 John 5:3
For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.
Repentance is what God commands to get you to loving Him with all your heart, mind, soul and strength, and your neighbor as yourself. This message may enlighten you further:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqFxkUApxXI&t=1418
Listen from 23:38 to 48:24.
See also:
Faith Implies Obedience
Sinning Willfully and Sinning Repetitively
How Do We Know That We Love God?
What does "by grace are you saved through faith" (Ephesians 2:8) really mean?
Heart photo created by jcomp - www.freepik.com
No comments:
Post a Comment