One of them, an expert in the Law, tested Him with this question:
"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?"
Jesus replied: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'
This is the first and greatest commandment.
And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'
All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments. - Matthew 22:35-40
"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.
By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." - John 13:34-35
agape- self-sacrificing, universal, unconditional love
God keeps it so simple, doesn't He? We are the ones who like to screw it up by thinking too much. We just can't seem to be ok with the fact that God is so kind and free with us. We westerners, children of Greek philosophy and rational thought, want so badly to figure it all out. We want so badly to have a graph of dos and don'ts. We feel as if we could solve all the world's problems if we could just communicate the truth in the right words!
I imagine God just smiles and shakes His head at how silly we get sometimes trying to figure it all out.
I know from experience just how frustrating it can be. At about age 20 I set out on a mission to get it all figured out! I was devouring deep theological books from people whom are so smart one can barely understand their writing. I would read over and over again until things started to make sense. Then I would turn around and dissect every bit of scripture. I was going to know the Word, dangit! And I did. Within a few years I became about as good a theologian as any young man could be. I had answers for everyone's questions. Even if I didn't know the answer I was excellent at rationalizing one from what I DID know. I was asked to teach often. I started to get a lot of influence.
And yet I was missing so much.
You see there was something I was overlooking in this whole pursuit of knowledge thing I had going on. I was missing God. No, I'm not saying that I ignored Him or stopped believing in Him, nothing like that. I simply was doing all my studying on my own. I was doing it all in my own power and understanding. I was using rational thought and manly wisdom, all my schooling and learnedness, to try and understand Godly wisdom.
Now doesn't that sound stupid?
Sorry to break it to you, but in some way, shape or form we've all been guilty of this. Some much more so than others.
But the Bible, ironically, was never meant to be picked apart by human minds. A book we Christians all agree was written by divine inspiration is a book we don't try to understand by divine intervention. Ouch.
For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength. - 1 Corinthians 1:25
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. - Proverbs 3:5
The Bible is full, beginning to end, with Godly wisdom, and yet we try to understand it through human wisdom. Anytime we enter into our study without consulting Him, without inviting Him to speak to us as we go through it, we are missing something. Yet that is exactly what most of the church is doing.
The result of this is a western church that has slowly and steadily been losing its influence on culture for years now. Culture grows more decadent, the church responds with more harshness and judgment, leaning on the Word of God without the love it is meant to be communicated from. We have chosen the letter of the Law over the Spirit of the Law. And we all know that that kills.
So back to the beginning. Where Jesus gives us so much wisdom and insight into it all in a couple sentences that it drives our rational minds crazy! It can't be that simple?! Can it?
It's all about love. Not just nice thoughts or affection. It's all about agape love. It's about loving everyone (and I mean EVERYONE) with sold out, unconditional, sacrificial love. It means we are to read the Bible and understand the words of it through the lens of that love. When we read something in the Old Testament that seems crazy and harsh we first need to think, "How can I understand this through Love?" When we read Paul talking about discipline we need to filter that with "How does fit into the context of Love?"
When we do this, everything changes. Revelation starts flowing. Suddenly scripture leaps off the page to us. Things start to open up to us which our hardened hearts and rational minds hid from us before. Soon we don't just understand truth but we understand TRUTH. And there is a huge difference.
Before Jesus it all came down to love. How much love could we muster on our own for God and for one another? God only asked for everything. It was the only way to keep the Law. And since man couldn't partner with God from the inside out, it was impossible.
But then Jesus did come, and right before He goes to His death He ups the ante and says, "Now love one another, as I have loved you!"
We're no longer excused to love in our own strength. We must love as God loves. It's so important that it's the only command Jesus gives His followers! Why? Because it literally covers everything.
It's so simple! Yet so impossible to understand on our own.
But Jesus knew, He knew that if we obeyed His command it would force us to come in line to everything else. Why? Because we can't obey this command without relationship with God. It's impossible. We need Him in us, we need Him working through us. In order to love one another as Jesus loved us we can't disconnect from Him. We must love Him and stay in Him. As we do that we change. Sin simply leaves us. When we are connected to Him we have no desire to sin. When we are connected to Him He opens our eyes and hearts to how He sees others. When we are connected to Him He purifies our desires to line up with His. It is literally the answer to every question anyone has ever asked about "what does God want me to do? What is His will for me? How do I understand this? How do I approach others? How do I deal with this situation?"
I'll tell you how. Connect and then release!
I know, it's almost so simple it's stupid! Trust me, I wouldn't be sharing it if I hadn't found out by trying to live it out that it is true! For it's when I connect and release, when I let Him be the filter, when I walk in the supernatural love that only He can give me, it really all does get easier. I love in ways I never could have before. I have confidence I never would have before. I understand more than I ever would have before.
Grasping this changes everything. EVERYTHING! Suddenly you're not worried about the sins of others, or about the next President, or about judgment on America. You're not worried about that new job you need or the bills you are going to pay. You're not worried because you have the answer. It's in you, it's Him!
Suddenly you understand when Paul writes, "God's kindness is intended to lead you to repentance." - Romans 2:4b. You understand because you know that if you could just get someone to MEET Jesus, they will WANT to change! That pressure to condemn them, to judge them, to try to advise them OUT of their sin will go away. You'll just want to love them so stupidly and overwhelmingly so that they will say, "how could someone do this?" and you'll say "Jesus!" and they will rush to meet Him. After all, that's how Jesus did ministry!
This is what changed everything for me. And as I get better in walking it out I find that I am finally becoming the person I always wanted to be. Everytime I connect with Him and live through that connection another rough edge gets shaved down. Another positive change is made. Temptation gets easier and easier to overcome. Generosity comes easier. Harshness leaves. Fear disappears. Love just flows! And the crazy thing is, He makes it so easy! I no longer have to focus on all those things on their own. I just connect with Him, and in His loving comfort and gentle direction and supernatural power I start to change. And all those things that seemed so hard before I connected get so much easier.
It's all there. It's our starting point to how we need to live to fully live. It's where we must begin if we are really going to change our own lives and then the world around us. Connect and release. Love out of HIS strength. As the church grasps this, (and the good news is, it IS beginning to grasp it!) everything changes. Revival starts, and it never ends.
Now go get started!
"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.
By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." - John 13:34-35
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