February 18, 2023
And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. Deuteronomy 10:12
Our journey through God’s ‘love letter’ brings us to encounter reminders of the first Commandment. This is the essential element in the ongoing refinement process known as sanctification. Until Jesus comes to rescue His bride, the deceiver will work ceaselessly to shift our affections away from the Lord.
Love for Him is the precursor to genuine love for our fellow man. Divine guidance from heaven, if we have ears to hear, provides a ready recognition of the enemy’s spirit of accusation and criticism that so often seeks to wedge its way into our thinking. Do not allow it! If my loyalty lies exclusively with the Lord, I will see others through His tender eyes of compassion, with none of the haughty spirit that serves only to push people away from God. Maintaining exclusive loyalty with the Lord is an active, conscious effort on my part. Recognition of my own spiritual poverty (see Matthew 5:3) brings with it humility and a hearty welcome for instructions from His word.
His will for my life becomes my will. My desires align with His desires.
This creates a proper framework for all relationships. Each of us is a potential instrument in His hand for issuing the invitation to life eternal. Jesus, the great Teacher, masterfully combined two verses of Scripture (Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18) in answer to a lawyer’s trick question while demonstrating that His word, referred to as the Law and the Prophets, centers on love:
“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” Matthew 22:36-40
That highly commended church at Ephesus (Revelation 2:1-7) lies in ruins today. Many other churches and individuals – once shining beacons of light in the world – have tragically lost their place in God’s Kingdom. The Lord has told us that He will not leave or forsake us. However, He does not remove our freedom to choose. Every day is filled with another series of choices. Each choice that I make moves me closer to- or farther away from- Him. It is certainly within my power to leave and forsake Him. Even the highly commended church at Ephesus began to slip away early. Do I hear the pain in the great heart of Jesus when He says, “you have left your first love”? I must resolve – daily! – to cling to Him.