Do We Love God?

Matthew 22:34-40: 34 But when the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. 35 Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?”

37 Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

Do we understand what Jesus is talking about here? Or, like so many passages of scriptural truth, do we skim over these words, interpreting them by our own, very limited understanding or views?

We must understand that scripture is the only reliable interpreter of scripture, and only by examining what the word of God says, in fullness, can we rightly understand the meaning of thoughts and ideas in the scriptures. Of course, we also need the light of the Holy Spirit upon those words.

So, what does it mean to love the Lord our God with all the heart, soul and mind? Is it important and necessary to grasp the depth of meaning to what the Lord is saying here? I believe that it is.

Jesus said that the first and great commandment is that we love God with all that is within us. Let’s think about that for a moment.

When we think of the word “love”, we typically think of feelings; emotions; warm-fuzzies; and soaring heights of emotional devotion or commitment. Is this what Jesus was talking about?

Think about this:

Can someone be commanded to love another in the emotional sense of the word? Can a wife be commanded to love her husband; or a child to love a parent, in this emotional sense? Well, perhaps they can be, but it can never bring the desired result.  Love, in the emotional sense of the word, cannot be commanded.  So, logic tells us that Jesus could not have been referring to loving God in this way.

Now, I’m not saying that emotional love for God by His children is excluded or not part of the picture.  I’m simply saying that it is not what Jesus was talking about when he spoke of intense, all-encompassing love for God as a commandment.

If He was not referring to loving God in the emotional sense, then what sense did He intend? This is very important, since He says that to love God with all our being is the first and great commandment. If He calls it that, we can be sure it is important.

I propose that loving God, according to the true scriptural meaning, has two major elements.

The first is that we utterly submit ourselves to and obey Him. Why? Simply because He is all-knowing, all-wise, loving, holy and just. He knows what is good and right in all circumstances at all times and He has the right… because of His glorious attributes and because He is our creator… to tell us what to do and what not to do; what is good and what is evil; what pleases Him and what offends Him.

So, this is the first element of loving God; that we obey Him without question or hesitation, in all things and at all times, because it is perfectly good, right and logical to do so. In fact, doing otherwise is, by definition, sin. This is what “the fall” was all about; disobeying God and choosing another path… one that seemed good and right… self-direction instead of God-direction.

Jesus, the one who came and loved God, His Father, supremely, also obeyed Him supremely. Is this not so?

The second element in loving God is that we run from and flee in terror, from any other “god”. Anyone or anything which would lead us in any direction other than the good and perfect direction and will of God Himself is another “god”, and all such “gods” must be rejected and forsaken, regardless of how good, noble or well-intentioned they may appear to be.

Consider that Satan, the serpent, presented himself to Adam and Eve as a benevolent “friend”. He was trying to “help” them attain to a higher plane and destiny, and a much greater degree of god-likeness. His proposal looked and sounded good and kind.

There was a serious problem, though. He is a liar, and his proposal was directly opposed to the very command of God Himself.

You see, Satan was usurping the place of God, making himself a “god”, and when Adam and Eve submitted themselves to him by following his proposal, they were receiving Satan as their god. They became idolaters. This is why Satan is called the god of this world.

Let’s look at some scriptures in Deuteronomy in light of the two elements I propose as being the two sides of the coin of what it means to love God. Please read them carefully and don’t begin to think that there is little or no application to New Covenant believers, because that idea is a terrible fallacy that has been used to blind believers to much vital truth.

The following is a rather extensive amount of scripture, but I believe it will be well worth the time and energy:

Deuteronomy 6:1-25: 1 “Now this is the commandment, and these are the statutes and judgments which the LORD your God has commanded to teach you, that you may observe themto keep all His statutes and His commandments which I command you, you and your son and your grandson, all the days of your life, and that your days may be prolonged. 3 Therefore hear, O Israel, and be careful to observe it, that it may be well with you, and that you may multiply greatly as the LORD God of your fathers has promised you—‘a land flowing with milk and honey.’ in the land which you are crossing over to possess, 2 that you may fear the LORD your God,

4 “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one! 5 You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. 6 “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. 10 “So it shall be, when the LORD your God brings you into the land of which He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give you large and beautiful cities which you did not build, 11 houses full of all good things, which you did not fill, hewn-out wells which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant—when you have eaten and are full— 12 then beware, lest you forget the LORD who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. 13 You shall fear the LORD your God and serve Him, and shall take oaths in His name. 14 You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are all around you 15 (for the LORD your God is a jealous God among you), lest the anger of the LORD your God be aroused against you and destroy you from the face of the earth. 16 “You shall not tempt the LORD your God as you tempted Him in Massah. 17 You shall diligently keep the commandments of the LORD your God, His testimonies, and His statutes which He has commanded you. 18 And you shall do what is right and good in the sight of the LORD, that it may be well with you, and that you may go in and possess the good land of which the LORD swore to your fathers, 19 to cast out all your enemies from before you, as the LORD has spoken. 20 “When your son asks you in time to come, saying, ‘What is the meaning of the testimonies, the statutes, and the judgments which the LORD our God has commanded you?’ 21 then you shall say to your son: ‘We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, and the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand; 22 and the LORD showed signs and wonders before our eyes, great and severe, against Egypt, Pharaoh, and all his household. 23 Then He brought us out from there, that He might bring us in, to give us the land of which He swore to our fathers. 24 And the LORD commanded us to observe all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our good always, that He might preserve us alive, as it is this day. 25 Then it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to observe all these commandments before the LORD our God, as He has commanded us.’

Deuteronomy 7:1-11: 1 “When the LORD your God brings you into the land which you go to possess, and has cast out many nations before you, the Hittites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than you, 2 and when the LORD your God delivers them over to you, you shall conquer them and utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them nor show mercy to them. 3 Nor shall you make marriages with them. You shall not give your daughter to their son, nor take their daughter for your son. 4 For they will turn your sons away from following Me, to serve other gods; so the anger of the LORD will be aroused against you and destroy you suddenly. 5 But thus you shall deal with them: you shall destroy their altars, and break down their sacred pillars, and cut down their wooden images, and burn their carved images with fire.

6 “For you are a holy people to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth. 7 The LORD did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples; 8 but because the LORD loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers, the LORD has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

9 “Therefore know that the LORD your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments; 10 and He repays those who hate Him to their face, to destroy them. He will not be slack with him who hates Him; He will repay him to his face. 11 Therefore you shall keep the commandment, the statutes, and the judgments which I command you today, to observe them.

Deuteronomy 10: 12-13: 12 “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, 13 and to keep the commandments of the LORD and His statutes which I command you today for your good?

Deuteronomy 11:1-28: 1 “Therefore you shall love the LORD your God, and keep His charge, His statutes, His judgments, and His commandments always. 2 Know today that I do not speak with your children, who have not known and who have not seen the chastening of the LORD your God, His greatness and His mighty hand and His outstretched arm— 3 His signs and His acts which He did in the midst of Egypt, to Pharaoh king of Egypt, and to all his land; 4 what He did to the army of Egypt, to their horses and their chariots: how He made the waters of the Red Sea overflow them as they pursued you, and how the LORD has destroyed them to this day; 5 what He did for you in the wilderness until you came to this place; 6 and what He did to Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben: how the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, their households, their tents, and all the substance that was in their possession, in the midst of all Israel— 7 but your eyes have seen every great act of the LORD which He did.

8 “Therefore you shall keep every commandment which I command you today, that you may be strong, and go in and possess the land which you cross over to possess, 9 and that you may prolong your days in the land which the LORD swore to give your fathers, to them and their descendants, ‘a land flowing with milk and honey.’ 10 For the land which you go to possess is not like the land of Egypt from which you have come, where you sowed your seed and watered it by foot, as a vegetable garden; 11 but the land which you cross over to possess is a land of hills and valleys, which drinks water from the rain of heaven, 12 a land for which the LORD your God cares; the eyes of the LORD your God are always on it, from the beginning of the year to the very end of the year.

13 ‘And it shall be that if you earnestly obey My commandments which I command you today, to love the LORD your God and serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul, 14 then I will give you the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your grain, your new wine, and your oil. 15 And I will send grass in your fields for your livestock, that you may eat and be filled.’ 16 Take heed to yourselves, lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them, 17 lest the LORD’s anger be aroused against you, and He shut up the heavens so that there be no rain, and the land yield no produce, and you perish quickly from the good land which the LORD is giving you.

18 “Therefore you shall lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 19 You shall teach them to your children, speaking of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. 20 And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, 21 that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land of which the LORD swore to your fathers to give them, like the days of the heavens above the earth.

22 “For if you carefully keep all these commandments which I command you to do—to love the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways, and to hold fast to Him— 23 then the LORD will drive out all these nations from before you, and you will dispossess greater and mightier nations than yourselves. 24 Every place on which the sole of your foot treads shall be yours: from the wilderness and Lebanon, from the river, the River Euphrates, even to the Western Sea, shall be your territory. 25 No man shall be able to stand against you; the LORD your God will put the dread of you and the fear of you upon all the land where you tread, just as He has said to you.

26 “Behold, I set before you today a blessing and a curse: 27 the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you today; 28 and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside from the way which I command you today, to go after other gods which you have not known.

Deuteronomy 13:1-11: 1 “If there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives you a sign or a wonder, 2 and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, ‘Let us go after other gods’—which you have not known—‘and let us serve them,’ 3 you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the LORD your God is testing you to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. 4 You shall walk after the LORD your God and fear Him, and keep His commandments and obey His voice; you shall serve Him and hold fast to Him. 5 But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has spoken in order to turn you away from the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of bondage, to entice you from the way in which the LORD your God commanded you to walk. So you shall put away the evil from your midst.

6 “If your brother, the son of your mother, your son or your daughter, the wife of your bosom, or your friend who is as your own soul, secretly entices you, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods,’ which you have not known, neither you nor your fathers, 7 of the gods of the people which are all around you, near to you or far off from you, from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth, 8 you shall not consent to him or listen to him, nor shall your eye pity him, nor shall you spare him or conceal him; 9 but you shall surely kill him; your hand shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. 10 And you shall stone him with stones until he dies, because he sought to entice you away from the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. 11 So all Israel shall hear and fear, and not again do such wickedness as this among you.

Deuteronomy 30:11-20: 11 “For this commandment which I command you today is not too mysterious for you, nor is it far off. 12 It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend into heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ 13 Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ 14 But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it.

15 “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil, 16 in that I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, that you may live and multiply; and the LORD your God will bless you in the land which you go to possess. 17 But if your heart turns away so that you do not hear, and are drawn away, and worship other gods and serve them, 18 I announce to you today that you shall surely perish; you shall not prolong your days in the land which you cross over the Jordan to go in and possess. 19 I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; 20 that you may love the LORD your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days; and that you may dwell in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.”

We notice some very important things, if we observe carefully, in these Deuteronomy passages:

1. The commands to love God are connected directly and repeatedly with strong, intensive exhortations to obey Him and keep away from idols or anything related to idols.

2. The commands are for the good of the people, that all may be well with them.

3. Obedience means going in to possess the land. God brought them out of slavery and bondage, in order to bring them in to a good and rich land. We too, as New Covenant believers have been redeemed from bondage to self and sin and are called into the fullness of Christ, which is true righteousness and holiness… Christ in us, the hope of glory.

4. Deuteronomy 11:26-28, above, reveals that obedience to God equals blessing, and that disobedience equals a curse which also equals going after other gods.

Read those verses again, because this is extremely important. Disobeying God is equated with going after other gods, which brings a curse. We are either submitting to the true God, or we are submitting to some false god or gods. I believe this is why Jesus said that we are either with Him or against Him.

Also, it’s vital to understand that “idol” does not necessarily mean a literal idol of wood or stone which we bow down to and worship. Some idolaters do that; most don’t.

If you give more of your time, energy or devotion to your career, your family, nice entertainment or your “future” than you give to God and His will and purposes, then all those “things” and many more are idols; false gods.

If you follow a Pastor or teacher who leads you on any path other than the path God has commanded and ordained, then you are an idolater. Think about it. God says explicitly that we are not to add to or take away from His word… the path He has ordained and established.

5. A false prophet will, in one way or another, draw the people into the following of other gods; into departing from the path that God has commanded His people to walk (Deut. 13:5). This is a test from God, to prove whether we love Him.

How many false prophets do we have in the pulpits, on TV and teaching Sunday School classes? There are surely many.

6. Finally… an extremely significant point. Deuteronomy 30:11-20, the last passage above, has tremendous New Covenant implications.

First, Paul quotes Deuteronomy 30, verses 11-14, in the book of Romans, chapter 10, as directly describing a saving faith in the person and work of the Lord, Jesus.

Second, verse 20 tells us “He is your life.” Where else do we find this idea? We see it in Colossians 3:4, speaking to New Covenant believers of Jesus.

And, lest anyone should think that Old Covenant scriptures don’t have clear and direct bearing on New Covenant believers, observe the following:

1 Corinthians 10:1-22: 1 Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, 2 all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ. 5 But with most of them God was not well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.

6 Now these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted. 7 And do not become idolaters as were some of them. As it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.” 8 Nor let us commit fornication, as some of them did, and in one day twenty-three thousand fell; 9 nor let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed by serpents; 10 nor complain, as some of them also complained, and were destroyed by the destroyer. 11 Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.

12 Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. 13 No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.

14 Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. 15 I speak as to wise men; judge for yourselves what I say. 16 The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? 17 For we, though many, are one bread and one body; for we all partake of that one bread.

18 Observe Israel after the flesh: Are not those who eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar? 19 What am I saying then? That an idol is anything, or what is offered to idols is anything? 20 Rather, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to demons and not to God, and I do not want you to have fellowship with demons. 21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the Lord’s table and of the table of demons. 22 Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than He?

The Deuteronomy passages, along with this 1 Corinthians passage have tremendous application to our day and age in the Church. Consider the following:

God, because of Who He is, and because He is our creator, should and must be submitted to and obeyed, and all idols must be forsaken and rejected. We see this throughout scripture, Old Covenant and New. The true saints have always done so; Jesus modeled this truth perfectly; and we, too, are called to walk in this reality as New Covenant believers, as the following New Covenant passages show:

John 14:15-24: 15 “If you love Me, keep My commandments. 16 And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. 19 “A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also. 20 At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. 21 He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”

22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, “Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?” 23 Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. 24 He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father’s who sent Me.

John 15:9-14: 9 “As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. 10 If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. 11 “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. 12 This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. 14 You are My friends if you do whatever I command you.

1 Corinthians 6:9-10: 9 Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, 10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.

Ephesians 5: 3-7: 3 But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints; 4 neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. 5 For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. 6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. 7 Therefore do not be partakers with them.

1John 2: 3-6: 3 Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. 4 He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 5 But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. 6 He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.

1 John 3: 18-24: 18 My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. 19 And by this we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him. 20 For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things. 21 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God. 22 And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight. 23 And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment.

24 Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.

1John 5:1-3: 1 Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves Him who begot also loves him who is begotten of Him. 2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.

Revelation 21: 7-8: 7 He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son. 8 But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”

Remember too, that Jesus said things like, “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.”

He also said, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.”

Now, at this point many believers would say, “But, we’re under the New Covenant. We only need to obey the commands to believe in Jesus and love one another as 1 John 3:23 says. We’re not under the law!”

Let’s examine this argument. First, the argument that Christians are not under the law.

The vast majority of believers think that all Christians are not under the law, but Galatians 5:18 says, “if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.”

Why is it that only believers that are led by the Spirit are not under the law? It is simply because there is no law against the fruit of the Spirit, like love, long-suffering, goodness, etc. (Galatians 5: 22-23).

Read Galatians 5:16-25 with an open heart and mind and it will be apparent that believers who walk according to the flesh are under the law.

1 Timothy 1:8-10 confirms this. It says:

8 But we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully, 9 knowing this: that the law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, 10 for fornicators, for sodomites, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, and if there is any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine.

So, whether a Christian is under the law or not depends upon whether he walks according to the Spirit, or not.

Now to address the argument that we only need to obey the commands to believe in Jesus and love one another as 1 John 3:23 says.

Christians will say, very commonly, “I believe in Jesus! I strive to love the brethren. Our church is very loving.”

First of all, what does it mean to “believe in Jesus”? Does it mean we believe in Him as our substitute and Savior from the just penalty for sin? Of course it does. But, it means so much more, and to a very large extent, believers have lost sight of that.

Do we “believe in Him” as our Master and Lord?; as the one we spend ourselves on completely?; as our all-in-all?; as the one we give total allegiance and commitment to?; as our very life itself? Do we believe in Him as our righteousness and sanctification and live in those realities?

If you want to believe you have all that from the moment you believed, and that God can only and always see you in that way, then go ahead, but the scriptures teach that God intends to bring us into conformity to the image of His son; to actually work that reality out in us. He’s not content to count us as righteous as we live out our lives in selfishness, sin and disobedience of all kinds.

We can’t pick and choose which “parts” of Jesus we want to “accept”. We either believe on Him for all He is and all He intends to be for us, or we really don’t believe on Him at all, regardless of what some Pastor or evangelist may have told you.

Lastly, are Christians and Churches genuinely loving according to the Lord’s definition of what love is all about? Do our occasional nice and kind deeds that we perform for others or for fellow church members line up with the Lord’s view of loving as He has loved us?

The second part of the great commandment is that we are to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. And don’t forget that this too is a commandment of God, and that we are to completely obey Him in all things.

Jesus perfectly lived out obedience to this command. He laid His life down for us. He served, and still serves us. He always sought for the highest and best for others, even His enemies. He left the glory and honor of heaven, at great cost to Himself, to seek and save the lost. He proved what love, according to God’s perspective, is.

He said that His followers were to love in the same way, and that everyone would know we are His disciples by the reality of His kind of love manifested in and through us.

Is that how Christians and churches love?

He wasn’t speaking about doing occasional kind things for fellow church members or unbelievers; or smiling as we greet newcomers to our church and saying “Welcome, brother”; or setting up a “program” for feeding the hungry; or acting friendly or warm… especially not in light of the incredible shallowness of relationship which is prevalent within the churches.

Jesus warned of false prophets, and even false Christs, arising in the last days, and about love growing cold. He said we should watch and pray always, so that we might be counted worthy to escape the things that are coming and to stand before the Son of Man. He spoke of the necessity of sincere and dedicated service to Him and His agenda. He said that only those who do the will of the Father will enter the kingdom.

Paul prophesied about “another” Jesus. Read the following:

2 Corinthians 11:1-4: 1 Oh, that you would bear with me in a little folly—and indeed you do bear with me. 2 For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. 3 But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. 4 For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted—you may well put up with it!

In light of what the great commandment means scripturally, believers and churches may want to soberly examine the following issues before it’s too late:

1. Are we obeying the Lord at all times in all things, without question or reservation? When we miss the mark, are we confessing and repenting from the heart? Have we added to or taken away from His word or the path He has clearly marked out for us? Do we even know the word of God well enough to be able to be obedient, or do we esteem His word lightly? Is the word of Christ dwelling in us richly?

2. Have we forsaken and fled from any and all forms of idolatry? God is worthy of our full devotion and commitment. He gave all for us and He expects the same from us. He does not and will not tolerate idols set up in the hearts of His people. He never has and never will.

Are other “gods” stealing His honor and glory from our hearts? Perhaps “gods” such as reputation, career, spiritual pride or ambition, toys and entertainment, our own ego and desire for things like  recognition, a beautiful home or expensive car?

Are false teachers and prophets leading us after other gods; perhaps “gods” like prosperity, divine health, spiritual “highs” or power, or conformity to the world’s standards, to name just a few?

Are we putting up with another Jesus; a “Jesus” who gives and blesses endlessly but doesn’t demand total, absolute allegiance and commitment; a Jesus who accepts sin in His people because “We’re all poor, wretched sinners saved by grace who will sin every day.”; a Jesus who suffered and died for us so that the Father might only see and count us as righteous but not make us so?

3. Do we obey the second part of the commandment… that we are to love our neighbor as ourselves… to love as Jesus loved us? Does everybody know we are His disciples because they see in us a supernatural, sacrificial, forgiving, compassionate love which drives and compels us to actively seek for the highest and best for others; that thrusts us out into missions; that causes us to plead with and weep for the perishing sinners all around us, everywhere?

These are three extremely important issues because, according to Jesus the Christ, the Lord of glory, upon these issues hang all the law and the prophets.

I have decided to add an addendum to this Page today, November 18, 2008.  The decision is motivated by certain comments that have been left on this Page, and on the “Post” version of “Do We Love God?” Timbob, Jessie and a brother; consider yourselves as co-authors of this page.

I am very grateful for the added light that has been given.  Although I am well aware of the truth of the comments made, I can see that I need to make some clear statements, since the light of those truths were, basically, missing from this writing.

We must be clear on this:  We have no ability, in and of ourselves, to obey God, flee from idolatry, or love anyone as God intends.  It is only Jesus who can and will live this kind of life, and “Christ in us; the hope of glory,” is the only way we can ever hope to live it, either.

Let us not believe, or even think for a moment, that there is anything within us (that is, “in the flesh”, as Paul puts it) that can even remotely bring us up to the demands or standards of God’s requirements.  If we think there is this ability within us… even in some small way… we are surely doomed to frustration and failure, and we will merely be among those who pursue righteousness by religious effort.

May this never be.