love is...
The Word of God declares boldly God's love for His children in Romans 5:8. His love is always demonstrative and not just superficial words. His love is tangible as we can see in our families, our surroundings, our knowledge of love itself is a demonstration of God's power and love.
Knowing that you are counted as His child, what will be your demonstration of your love for Him? He knows we cannot love Him like He loves us. But we must give all of our hearts to Him and He helps us in His word by laying out a few guidelines about loving Him and what He esteems as love. To God, Love is;
1.obedience
“And you shall love the Lord your God out of and with your whole heart and out of and with all your soul (your life) and out of and with all your mind (with your faculty of thought and your moral understanding) and out of and with all your strength. This is the FIRST and PRINCIPAL commandment
The second is like it and is this, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these”
Obeying God is the ultimate sign of one's love for Him. Jesus Himself said in John 14:15 says, "If you love Me, you will keep My commands". Then He added a blessing to it in Luke 11:28 when He said "Even more, those who hear the word of God and keep it are BLESSED" .
During the times of the New Testament, the Bible had not been put together and the Word of God was shared through conversations, teachings and preaching. Fast forward more than 2000years and we are blessed with the Word of God in various media, print, digital, radio... There are many ways to hear and know His Word now. Lets make good use of this great opportunity. Never take your Bibles for granted. They are life. (John 6:63)
The 10 commandments that God gave to Moses are the instructions or commands that are usually used as a measuring stick of one's obedience or surrender to God; and that is good. But doing great is always better than doing good and Christ showed us how to be great with just two commandments
- And you shall love the Lord your God out of and with your whole heart and out of and with all your soul (your life) and out of and with all your mind (with your faculty of thought and your moral understanding) and out of and with all your strength. This is the FIRST and PRINCIPAL commandment
- The second is like it and is this, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these
It may seem like Jesus Christ is this stern Dictator who want to restrict our lives with mandates about how to live life. The only untrue part is that He is a Dictator but the rest is very plausible as He wants us to be obedient in order to quicken the process of conforming to His image. Remember, Man was created in God's own image and Adam messed up that plan. Because God is a gracious Father, Christ was sent so we would have an actual person to look up to, to study and copy. Mimicking Christ's life, His character, His thought process can only be realised through an adherence to His words. Jesus Christ is the only person who lived a sinless life and did everything he said. He walked the walk and so it is understandable to followsuit. If Christ can do it, we can do it too.
WHY OBEY?
Choosing to obey the laws and instructions laid out for us by God and simplified by Jesus Christ has a few implications for us as Children of God.
- Because the Lord Himself created the earth and knows all things, even the secret, hidden things, it would make sense to trust the creator about the creation and the manual for the perfect operation and usage of the creation. Following the manual ensures that the product/creation is used to fulfill the purpose for which it was created. No one ever excelled with an Ipad or a Macbook without reading the manual or learning about its operation from Apple, the manufacturers. Why would you then trust that life would be perfect if you do not follow the guidelines put forth by the One who created you and gives life (Job 28:24, Isaiah 46:9, Psalm 139:4). God is Omnipotent, Omnipresent and Omniscient.
- For every instruction given, there is a path of freedom it leads to.
- Obey to receive the promises and blessings of God. It's that simple. God gives instructions to help us ready ourselves for His innumerable blessings and promises. Revelations 1:8 describes God as the Alpha (the first letter of the greek alphabet which also means the beginning) and Omega (the last letter of the greek alphabet which also means the End). Once we come to the understanding that everything we consider good, pure or right in this world is learned from God, we will begin to comprehend, although not in its entirety, how generous and giving God is. He first loved us (1 John 4:19, Romans 8:37), provided for us (Matthew 6:31-32), blessed us (Ephesians 1:3) and then gave up His only Son for us (John 3:16). God would like for us to have everything He has promised and that comes through a committed adherence to His words. Mind you, we are dealing with a being who has never ever lied in Hs whole length of existence. Now, that is Someone we can trust and depend on.
- Obedience helps you grow in the Lord. Choosing the Lord's way or words over everything else 'perfects' us in our walk with Him. The Bible's definition of 'perfect' is not the same as what we term perfect or without flaws. God knows who we are, He made us! We cannot be perfect in the human sense, we can only do things perfectly, say the perfect things and think perfect thoughts sometimes but we will fall short at other times. Guess what? God says it is fine. His notion of Perfection is synonymous with Maturity. Not bad right? Just grow in Him and with Him. Heeding to His instructions ensures that we are perfected/matured in the best possible way, for His ways are perfect as Psalms 18:30 teaches.