July 5, 2014 What Is The Greatest Commandment of All? The Word of God gives those who love God and love His Word truly incredible promises! One example from that Word is: Listen, my beloved brethren: Has God not chosen the poor of this world (the humble, the receptive and the yielded) to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him? (James 2:5) This Scripture is saying to every believer and to those who may read this blog, if we are willing in our hearts and really love God — if we have totally given our lives over to Him — then His promises make each one of us heirs of His future coming kingdom. What a glorious promise for anyone willing to have faith in Him! Believe His Word and walk in life as a joint-heir in that kingdom and the Lord Jesus Christ! So, loving God and loving others is God’s divine plan and supreme will for mankind. “And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:30–31). Going back to the Old Testament, it says: “. . . The LORD our God, the LORD is one! You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. 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. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates” (Deuteronomy 6:4–9). “You shall not hate your brother in your heart. You shall surely rebuke your neighbor, and not bear sin because of him. You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD” (Leviticus 19:17-18). The entire Bible, Old and New Testaments, is virtually summed up in these two commandments. He promises us that those who actually live and keep these two commandments will be the ones who needn’t worry about the upcoming Judgment Seat of Christ, which is where our future reward of inheritance will be given out. In the New Testament we read: Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. We love Him because He first loved us (1 John 4:17-19). According to that Word, any love we might have of ourselves, that is in and through our relationship with Jesus Christ tells us our love is made perfect and is complete; that we may walk in boldness in the day of judgment of God or man: because as He is, so are we in this world. He proclaims that we who belong to God through Christ have no reason to have any fears in our lives because it creates torment which is not of God. It is all made perfect in Him. In other words, loving God produces the “fruit of the Spirit.” That agape love is what we will be judged on at the Judgement Seat of God. Some of the questions that Christ might ask us though at the Judgement Seat are: • “As I gave you My perfect love at your new birth what did you do with it in your daily life?” • “If you loved me as you say, how did you love Me?” • “Did you love others as I told you to do?” • “Did you multiply My love or did you just bury it like the unprofitable servant?” • “Was I your life? Or was I just your crutch when you thought you needed Me?” Think about how you might answer any or all of these questions. In conclusion, believers in Christ really have two lives: One is called our “self-life” which is made up of natural thoughts, emotions, and desires. It’s the “old man” of the personal life we had prior to coming to know Christ personally. The “new life” which comes after coming to know Christ personally is called “God’s Life,” which is made up of His supernatural love, wisdom, and power. In order for God’s Life to come forth from our hearts, however, we must continually choose to do away with our sin and our “self life.” We must give ourselves completely over to Him by becoming a clean and open vessel. It is then, that we will not only personally experience His love, but to also be that vessel carrying His love to others. When we don’t choose to do this, Matthew 24:12 has warned us, “Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold.” And if His love will grow cold in our lives this will then affect our place, our position, and our status in His coming kingdom. The Word of God then, can really be summed up in a few words: Learn to love Jesus Christ, God’s Son, and then others before yourself!
Posted on: Sat, 05 Jul 2014 12:53:17 +0000
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