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In the
Garden of Eden, when God created man in His own image, He desired to have a
relationship with man. In that relationship, He asked of Adam one thing. That
one thing was to not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. (Genesis
1:26-27). Everything else in the garden was fair game. There was nothing else
that was withheld from Adam, except that tree. However, sin found its way into
the heart of Eve and soon Adam, and the fall of all mankind would follow. God
did not ask Adam and Eve to stay away from that tree because He was withholding
anything from them. He asked them to stay away from that tree because He knew
that when they ate of it, they
would die. That desire that He had for a
perfect, intimate relationship with them would perish, and they would be tossed
into the trappings of sin. He asked them to stay away from it because He knew
that through His commandment to stay away, they would live a life of perfect
peace with Him. In the end, that is all He wants for each and every one of us.
He desires for us to live a joy-filled, peace-filled, intimate life with Him.
One of
the things that I have been pondering on and thinking about is the commandments
of the Lord. We know that now we live under an umbrella of grace, that when we
sin we have the blood of Jesus Christ to wash us clean again. We no longer have
to live under that power of sin and death because we have been made free from
it. However, I do also see another part of scripture that I think we overlook
often times because we don’t really understand it, or perhaps, we aren’t ready
to live it. Jesus tells us in John 14:15 that if we love Him, we will keep His
commandments. All throughout the Bible I see the same scriptures being written,
the same words being spoken to us by God our Father- Keep His Commandments.
“You
shall therefore love the Lord your God and keep His charge, His statutes, His
rules and His commandments.” Deuteronomy 11:1 (ESV) is just one of the many
other examples that we find in scripture. But, since some of these words are
written in the Old Testament, under the old Mosaic Law, do they still apply to
us today? Do we have to keep all ten of the commandments that were given to
Moses? Is that what it means to “keep His commandments”? For those of us who are Christians we know
that it is impossible for man to be able to keep all ten of the commandments
found in Exodus 20. There is no way we can because we are sinners. But that is
why Jesus came. He came to set us free
from the Law and from sin and death. So why is the keeping of God’s
commandments still relative to our walks today? Because our love for God is
seen in our obedience to His Word; if we love Him, we will do what His Word
tells us to do, including the Ten Commandments.
“And He
said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all
your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And
a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” Matthew
22:38-39 (ESV)
The
word that is used for love here in this verse and in the Deuteronomy verse
above refers to a love that longs after something or someone. It is a love that
desires. It is an intimate love that longs to be with the other person. What we
learn then from this word is that to love the Lord our God means that we long
for Him, we desire Him above all others. The love He has for us is an intimate
love, a purposeful love, a passionate love. If you ever doubt the love God has
for you, look to the cross and the sacrifice He gave to show you how much He loves
you.
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When I
read this definition of love I thought of a high-school crush, that first love.
The feelings that you had for them were overwhelming. You wanted to be near
them all the time, every single moment of the day was spent thinking about
them, talking to them, just being near them. You did everything in your power
to get them to notice you and to reciprocate those feelings. You might have
joined the debate team, or tried out for a school play, just so they would see
you and perhaps, just perhaps they would return the feelings of love for you
that you had for them. Your sole focus and purpose was to get them to feel for
you the same way you felt for them.
But how
do we return this kind of love? We are less than perfect, and our love is
tainted by sin. This was true before we knew His love, but now that we know His
love, we can reciprocate it by our obedience to His word. If you love Him you
will keep His commandments. If you tell me you love God, then that love will be
reflected in the way you live your life. The choices you make, the friends you
hang with, the people you help, all of the love that you say you have will be
seen. It will be manifested in your everyday life. Your life will seek to
uphold His word in every single moment of your every single day.
The
Lord Jesus tells us that we are to love the Lord our God with all our hearts,
souls and minds, and not only that, but we are to love our neighbors as
ourselves. We cannot love at all if we do not love Him first. However, if we
love Him with all our hearts, all our souls and all our minds then we will want
to love our neighbors, and we will, in fact, be keeping His commandments too.
Jesus
says we are to love the Lord our God with all our hearts. The heart is the seat
of all emotions, and it is also the seat of sin in our lives. Our hearts is the
place where our desires, passions, emotions, and dreams come from. Our hearts are
the place where sin dwells. But it is also the place that God speaks to us and
influences us to love Him. If we love the Lord our God with all our hearts then
our desires become His desires, our dreams become His dreams, our passions
become His passions. Our hearts become subject to Him and we will want to keep
His word, because our hearts will love Him above all others, including
ourselves.
Next
Jesus tells us that we are to love the Lord our God with all our souls. The
soul is where our will comes from. It is the seat of purpose, drive and
determination. It is where our rebellion comes from as well. Our disobedience
comes from our souls. Love the Lord our God with all our souls means that we
have crucified our flesh and it is no longer we who live but Christ who lives
in us, and the life that we do live we live for Him and Him alone. (Galatians
2:20) Our souls, our desire for self will be in total surrender to His will.
When we say “not my will, but Your will be done” we will truly mean it and live
it. The life of Jesus Christ will be seen in us.
Lastly
Jesus tells us to love the Lord our God with all our minds. Our thoughts are
tainted by sin and the sinful nature that resides in our hearts. In our hearts
sin dwells, which will try to rule our souls and our minds. But we have been
set free from sin and death through Jesus Christ our Lord. The only power sin
has over us is the power we give it. A life that loves the Lord their God will
have a mind that meditates on Him day and night. (Joshua 1:8) It will seek to
know His word so that it may walk His word.
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Paul
refers to this as well in Romans 12:1-2 when he tells us to “present our bodies
as living sacrifices” , offering to Him daily our hearts, souls and minds, so
that we can be holy and acceptable to Him, which is our reasonable service. We
must allow Him to take control of our thoughts and our minds and conform us
through His Word into His image, renewing our mind to focus on Him and Him
only. I know that for myself, when I spend more time with the world than I do
with Him, I begin to slip away and slip into the sinful nature that is still
buried within my heart. If we truly love the Lord our God then we will be
willing to let go of those things that we know are leading us away from Him,
those things that we know do not glorify Him and we will seek Him and Him
alone.
If we
love Him we will keep His commandments. We will not have other gods. We will
worship Him and Him alone. Our possessions, our jobs, even our families will be
second and third and fourth in line to Him. If you truly love the Lord your God
you will desire Him above all others. If you lost it all, your home, your
husband, your children, all of it and had nothing left would you still follow
Him? Would you still love Him? Would you still choose Him? In the end, if we
have Him, we have everything. If we love Him we will be willing to sacrifice
for Him just like He was willing to sacrifice for us.
Our
hearts, our minds, our souls, they are His. Our love for Him is seen in the way
we live our life for Him. If we love Him, in the end, we will keep His
commandments. “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of
God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of Him. By
this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey His
commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments.” (1
John 5:1-3 ESV)
If we
love God, it will be seen in the way we live our lives. Loving God requires
sacrifice. He showed us His love by His sacrifice; we show Him our love by our sacrifice
of obedience to His word. If you love Him, keep His commandments. Amen?
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