Love God

Weekly Blog

Saturday, 26 December 2009

Love God

We greet you in the name of the Lord Jesus as we close out the year of change, 2009.

A few days ago we had a neighbor over for tea. He is unemployed and in dire straits, but most of all, his soul is in a lost condition. We have supplied him with a Bible and met some of his basic needs as the Lord instructed us. As we sat around our kitchen table, the discussion turned to a question about Jesus, which as a former atheist, he was ignorant of.

So here we were, in our kitchen, as Linda prepared for her family, he asked me, "read me something about Jesus". Saying a silent prayer for guidance, my Bible opened to Mark 12. As I read a short passage to him, I was suddenly confronted with something I had read many times but glossed over or assumed it was a verse I had assimilated and lived, somehow.

Here it is:
28 And one of the scribes came, and heard them questioning together, and knowing that he (Jesus) had answered them well, asked him, What commandment is the first of all?
29 Jesus answered, The first is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God, the Lord is one:
30 and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength.

Now we could go in several directions with that, but for now, let us consider one aspect of the Lords teaching. In this passage, Jesus was quoting from the Old Covenant which was still in force. When I read the passage, the Lord gently reminded me of the context from Deuteronomy 6. In the Law, the command to "love God....." was immediately followed by these verses:

6 And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be upon thy heart;
7 and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thy house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.

In a flash I realized in all the years we had been in church, faithfully taking our children to service after service, we taught them to BELIEVE in God, we taught them that Jesus saves.
We taught them to respect the church people, we taught right and wrong. We taught them tithing.
We taught them God is all-knowing, and all seeing.
We taught the Bible is God's Word, that God created everything, taught them that demons exist and they can hurt you, and many other typical church and Christians, but we had overlooked something.

You probably saw it already.

We had never taught or instructed our children to "LOVE GOD..." -like Jesus said.

The FIRST commandment?

We taught them a lot of things.
We saw the world come after them to love and lust after a lot more than what God had to offer. We saw the TV, movies, computer, and the kids at school teach them even more.
We taught them about work, family, the neighbors.
We taught them about gratification, comfort, and food. We taught them about restaurants, the beach, the mountains, and the stars. We taught them about cars, bikes, cats and dogs.

But we never told them to "LOVE God...". Not once. Nor do I recall ever hearing a sermon on this.
How could we be so blind?

When I saw what Jesus said, for the first time, my heart was smitten with the truth we had overlooked for more than 20 years as we raised our family. After the man left, I shared this with Linda and we both repented once more for what we had blithely overlooked and had read many times. Is it a wonder why we have had some of the problems with our children that we go through?

"thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength" is what Jesus said.

Everyone says that they "love God" but I wonder how many bother to read what He said? And how many do so with a heartfelt desire to DO what Jesus said? "LOVE God".

John 14:23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.

God is not impressed with perfect church attendance and keeping the church rules. He is less impressed with empty professions of love, and "I'm a Christian". He wants our genuine love which is expressed in doing what He has given us. He loves it when we trust Him and believe what He has given us in the scriptures. John 14:15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.

He said it again:
23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my word: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.
24 He that loveth me not keepeth not my words....

To keep His words, we need to learn what His Words are!
(His Words continued to come forth through His apostles and are found in the NT epistles)

Yes, He commanded us to love our neighbor, love the brethren, and even love our enemies.

But He told us to "Love God" and teach our children to do likewise, this then is the FIRST works.
He told the Ephesian church in Revelation 2, "Remember therefore whence thou art fallen, and repent and do the first works".

As a postscript, we have repented, and even though our kids are grown (more or less), we have begun to speak the Words of Jesus in our home (btw, the church is called "the Israel of God"):
"Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God, the Lord is one:
and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength.

Do you want to know a "secret"?
Jesus slipped this in on His disciples, in addition to "keep my words...".
he added this:
John 15:13 Greater love hath no man than this,
that a man lay down his life for his friends.

The honest question is how many have or have not taught their children to "LOVE God"? I hope you did better than we did.

We would really like to hear from others on this.
Did you teach your children to love God? -or were you like us? Busy, busy church workers and life chasers. There is a "comments" button below and we invite you to make yours.

POSTED BY: rory AT 11:17 am | Permalink | 15 Comments | E-mail this

Comments:

What a reveltion of such a simple truth! I have to admit that I, for one, never taught my kids to love God the way we are instructed to. But it has taken me years to learn this myself, so there is hope for others who have not yet heard this message by the right spirit. My kids have heard that they must obey God and they will be blessed...but those who love Him are the ones who keep His word! On my blog, my Holiday message was short and included this verse: We love because he first loved us. 1 John 4:19 Just like our children, we loved them first, and they learned to love, obey and respect us in return. Thanks for your inspiring post on such a simple and yet profound subject! Blessings to you and yours! Isabel

Posted by Isabel on 12/26/2009 14:45:00

Amen Rory, Though it is the law given in the old covenant the difference between the old covenant and the new covenant law is that the old covenant law was written on a scroll and men could not understand it or fulfill it. The new covenant law is written on our hearts becoming our nature, thus we by nature fulfill the law of God.

Posted by Kenny Atnip on 12/26/2009 15:24:20

YES, Rory you have discerned correctly. Praise be to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob whose Spirit revieled this to you.We do see in the days following Pentacost that all were God Fearers. Even Cornelius was.Thus we see that those that feared God came to a place of loving God and recieving the gift of His Messiah.For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments, and His commandments are not burdensome. (1Jn 5:3) Modern "Christianity, just like the Jews, have rejected the Word for the Commentary of our time. May the Spirit of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob lead us into returning to the Truth. Live as Jeasus lived.

Posted by Ron Runyon on 12/26/2009 17:39:08

Glory, glory, glory, I took it for granted, thinking that everyone knew that we were to love Yahweh first, however I forget that not everyone is raised in a jewish home. My Father read deutoronomy 6 to me everynight of my childhood, as he laid hands on my head at night and blessed me before I went to sleep. It is a memory that is precious to me, and a part of my Father that I deeply loved. He always spoke to me about the YHWH of Abraham Issac and jacob. OH how I miss Him

Posted by ruth on 12/26/2009 21:00:44

I always wondered about that, when I heard people speak about loving there nieghbors, I would always wonder how one does that, without loving Yahweh first. Thankyou God for the Ruach Ha Kodesh , who sheds abroad Yahwehs love into our hearts. I pray we allow it to flow out of us like rivers of living water, and that everything it touches comes back to life.

Posted by Ruth on 12/26/2009 21:03:53

AMEN Ruthie. I would to God that the One New Man of Christianity would abide in His Word and do what your daddy did.

Posted by rory on 12/26/2009 21:33:01

From John Wesley's sermon, "The Almost Christian" Let no man persuade thee, by vain words, to rest short of this prize of thy high calling. But cry unto him day and night, who, "while we were without strength, died for the ungodly," until thou knowest in whom thou hast believed, and canst say, "My Lord, and my God!" Remember, "always to pray, and not to faint," till thou also canst lift up thy hand unto heaven, and declare to him that liveth for ever and ever, "Lord, Thou knowest all things, Thou knowest that I love Thee."

Posted by Travis Evans on 12/27/2009 01:10:17

We taught our girl to obey the Word, but we didn't teach her that that was how she loved God. What a wonderful revelation for me. Thank you Rory. Cybergranny

Posted by Betty on 12/27/2009 10:33:48

Amen to this revelation Rory! I often wonder what it means to love the LORD with all of our heart, mind, soul and strength and how to get to this point! And, although my children are still very young (4, 3 and 2), I want them above ALL to love the LORD as this and to be able to recognize the same in me and my wife. Jesus said that if we love him we will keep his commandments, and those commandments are rooted in love!

Posted by Jim Graham on 12/28/2009 07:01:15

We could not have children but I believe parents would set the example of how to love God...in their prayers, living a holy walk, having an undivided heart, faith that speaks into all areas of our lives, a praising and thankful heart in all things, watching their parents in the word, committing each day to the Lord. In plenty or without they may see your trust in God and Yeshua as an anchor to your soul...serving their Messiah as He guides them into all truth.

Posted by Debbie Wilson on 12/28/2009 11:31:04

Such a simple truth, but so overlooked! A great revelation.

Posted by Steve D. on 12/31/2009 20:48:10

Rory why would you want to bring your children under a bondage that Jesus never wanted. When, on our best day, have any of us loved God with All our hearts, ALL our soul, or ALL our mind. This is as you stated, Old Covenant. ALL the law and the prophets are wrapped up in these two commands. No man, apart from Jesus, has kept the law. We are no longer under the law. If we could not keep the law in the first place, why do we think we could keep the summation of the total which is loving God in this way. Matthew 22:36 Master, which is the great commandment IN THE LAW? Jesus in John 13:34-35 gave a NEW COMMANDMENT ...(GRACE). And by this all men shall know ye are my disciples if ye have love one for another. Paul

Posted by Paul on 01/11/2010 13:16:25

A second though. I John tells us that we love God because He first loved us. Unless we get out of the appeasement and performance game with God and realize that we are laviously loved by Father, we won't love Him as we should. Can love be commanded? Those who are loved well, love well. Paul

Posted by Paul on 01/11/2010 13:33:32

Paul, the Lord said what He said, and notice: 33 and to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbor as himself, is much more than all whole burnt-offerings and sacrifices. (the Law) 34 And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God.

Posted by Rory on 01/11/2010 18:05:08

We express the desire to love God according to what Jesus said, and God is able to create and put that kind of love in our heart to fulfill His Will. We simply now speak to our children the Words Jesus said: and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength. Amen, we agree, you cannot legislate love, but God can establish His love in us. "For the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost"

Posted by rory on 01/11/2010 18:09:29