I’ve probably read Matthew 22:37-38 no less than a thousand times. To say this passage, often referred to as the Great Commandment, is one of the most well known Biblical passages is almost an understatement.
Matthew 22: 37Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38This is the first and greatest commandment. 39And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
However, last week while rereading it an important truth came to my mind. I haven’t been able to shake it ever sense. I thought to myself…
Trying not to sin doesn’t guarantee I will love more. However, loving others will always result in less sinning.
I think sometimes I get so focused on “working” on my sin issues that I forget to just simply do what Scripture says. I think sometimes Biblical truths like this almost seem counter-intuitive. I’m slowly learning to just take Jesus at His word.
Trying to love more,
Pete
good post, pete. i think those of us in ministry also tend to forget this important truth: loving others won’t necessarily result in me loving God. but loving God will bring about in me a love for others.
ministers, pastors, missionaries, and the like… we tend to make the second command first.
.-= JamesBrett´s last blog ..concepts of leadership: soccer and a tale of 3 coaches (part tatu) =-.
Love that James. I’ve found I can’t do the second without the first. I don’t have a deep enough love any me on my own to love others the way I should.
Thank you Pete for this post. I tend to forget that Love is what healed us so why wouldn’t it change our actions hearts and minds daily.
Well said Pete.
.-= Jason´s last blog ..Blessings on the back side =-.
Wow…you packed a lot into a few sentences today. Thanks for this reminder…once again I need to stop thinking in terms of ‘me’.
.-= joyce´s last blog ..There’s an ocean out there =-.
I had never thought of it like this. It is a lot more energizing to focus on how to love better, than how to sin less.
I totally agree. It is hard trying not to sin. I can’t do it on my own. It changes the perspective when you think about loving more instead of just not sinning. That’s what Jesus was telling the Pharisees, they had the “not sinning” part down. They didn’t know how to love people. Thanks, Pete!
Awesome truth! I too need to focus on loving more.
.-= Dusty Rayburn´s last blog ..Robbing God =-.
When I am trying to explain the Christian viewpoint to someone who struggles with all of the ‘Do This’ and ‘Don’t Do That’ lists in the bible, I use the following analogy.
I love my wife. And because I love her, I want to do things that please her. So when I wake up in the morning, I don’t have to go through a list of “Don’t kill your wife today”, “Don’t trample your wife’s favorite flowers on the way to the car.”,”Don’t call your wife a foul name.”
On top of that, because I love her, I want to learn more of the things that please her and do those things. If I know that she loves yellow roses (which my wife simply adores) then I don’t buy white daisies if I hope to get the reaction that yellow roses will bring.
My positive actions are a natural by-product of the love I have for her. The great thing is I get to focus on those things instead of the converse of “Oh.. so I don’t get to go out and cheat on my wife today.. that is so unfair.”
The correct focus changes the intentions of my heart. And that correct focus only comes from learning more and desiring to learn more.
Does that mean that I don’t have days that my wife is hard to understand or get along with? No. I have those too. But the experiences of the past prove to me that it’s worth going forward and putting the effort into the actions that show love.
I say all that to say.. I am with you on this one, Pete.
.-= Tony York´s last blog ..Walking Wounded =-.
I thought of an addendum:
David at one point in Psalms asks God to teach him the meaning behind His (God’s) laws.
David didn’t want to what to avoid or what he should do for the sake of doing it. He wanted to understand why it was important to do those things.
I recently asked a group of adults what the commandment “Thou Shall not Steal” said about God. Everyone’s response dealt with how the act of stealing hurt other people and God doesn’t like that. While that is true, I think there is a larger reason. When we steal, we basically question God’s Sovereignty and Providence in our lives. We say “You are not in control so we have to take matters into our own hands!!”
God gave us instruction not to steal because He doesn’t want us to miss the fact that He will provide. He is sufficient.
So when we look at the law, we need to do more than see a list of do’s and don’ts and see the character and personality behind the instruction.
My wife has many things that she likes done a particular way. When I understand that, I can apply one lesson learned to a new experience and avoid frustrating both her and I.
For instance, I know that she doesn’t particularly care for spicy food because it hurts her. So when we travel somewhere, I try to avoid picking restaurants that appear to only have items that contain a lot of spice. I have learned what she doesn’t like and what she does and applied it based on understanding.
Sorry Pete.. I do get carried away from time-to-time. My friends say I have the gift of gab.
.-= Tony York´s last blog ..Walking Wounded =-.
I really like your analogy. I might have to borrow it, if you don’t mind.
.-= Maria´s last blog ..Made It Monday: Flashback! =-.
By all means… borrow away.
.-= Tony York´s last blog ..Walking Wounded =-.
Wow. A very timely post for me. Thank you.
.-= katdish´s last blog ..NightandIloveyou (by Billy Coffey) =-.
Vince Antonucci’s new book ‘Guerrilla Lovers’ recently came out (think military Guerrilla not zoo Gorilla). This book was accompanied by a new blog that provides weekly ‘assignments’ on how you can ‘attach’ the world with Guerrilla Love. Ties in great with this post. (I am not affiliated with Vince or the book in any way).
This week’s assignment can be found at http://guerrillalovers.com/blog/2010/04/25/4th-assignment-love-your-neighbor
.-= DB´s last blog ..Big Picture: Earth Day 2010 =-.
I really enjoyed Vince’s book. “I became a Christian and all I got was this lousy t-shirt”.
He helped me look at the word Abide in a totally new way. I will have look into his newest book.
.-= Tony York´s last blog ..Walking Wounded =-.
I’ll have to check it out!
Love the way you said this. We get so caught up sometimes on what we shouldn’t do that we forget what we should be doing.
.-= Amy´s last blog ..TGIF – Stream of consciousness =-.
Most of the time we complicate things pretty badly and you have done a good job of making it simple.
Thanks
.-= Jim F.´s last blog ..Generous? =-.
Focus on love…Awesome stuff!
.-= Michael´s last blog ..God’s Will And Lining Up Cars =-.
I’ve never, ever thought of it that way. But it’s so true. If I’m really loving others, then I will be less likely to sin against them. And the same is true for me loving God. I’m going to pass this on…great truth!
Pete, I have experienced a similar revelation recently.
I will love others more when I love Christ more.
I am working on carving out more and more time for our relationship. That is hard for me to do because I equate being busy with being successful.
(THAT IS NOT TRUE)
Emphasis added for my own benefit.
The living out of the second greatest commandment will be the natural fruit of a true and practiced understanding of the first.
“I love it when a plan comes together.”
.-= Harold´s last blog ..Reaching Remote Areas =-.
Well said Harold.
Such a thought provoking post – thanks.
If I’m reading correctly, it sounds like there is an overwhelming tendency to treat our faith as a list of DON’Ts. Don’t sin, don’t break a Commandment, don’t hate, don’t offend, don’t disappoint…etc.
I really appreciate that you cast faith in a more active light. We are commissioned to “go therefore and make disciples…” and told to Love God and Love People; all of which are active verbs.
To love actively is closer to Christianity than to simply avoid sin.
Well said, Pete.
BTW: This weekend I happened to find out friend of mine who is in his 60′s is also a big fan of you and Crosspoint.
New slogan: “Crosspoint…it’s not just for hipsters.” Whaddya think?
.-= Aaron Shaver´s last blog ..What’s Next? =-.
I like the new slogan Aaron.
“Pete Wilson, a man for the aged.”
(as submitted by a silver-haired follower)
.-= Pearl´s last blog ..My Prayer for Us =-.
I LOVE It. A man for the aged… it has a certain distinction about it.
.-= Tony York´s last blog ..Walking Wounded =-.
Wow. nothing like a one-two punch right after lunch! As if I didn’t get one with all of the tweets from your sermon yesterday
(it’s ok, I love it!)
I love that you let scripture grab ahold of you and don’t just shake it off.
What IF we as a church dropped the practice of Sin-Management and started making Loving God and Loving others the main thing? What a revolution we might see…
2 Cor 5:14… For Christ’s love compels us…
no doubt its where the focus is…either we are focused on loving God, or our self…
.-= Darla´s last blog ..oh be still my heart! =-.
Focusing on loving God and others something I do, but I never really thought of it as a way of reducing sin in my life, as I tend to work on the two separately! Thank you for drawing them together for me.
.-= Maria´s last blog ..Made It Monday: Flashback! =-.
this is simple grace in my book
i am going to fail
but don’t worry so much about failing
and think instead about loving those we are in contact with….. thats powerful
Every day my morning prayers include “Lord, let me show the people I come in contact with today the same love and grace you have given me”. It never happens completely but I keep praying and trying
That’s beautiful Beverly.
What a fantastic post.. simple and profound truth. Thank you Pete. Loving more is always the right choice.
Pete, Jesus even took it a step farther than loving “as we love ourselves” – though that’s a great start. He also said “love each other just as much as I love you!” Wow. That’s something I’ll probably never half way succeed in, but what a challenge! (See John 13:34-35, 15:12.)
For many years I believed in “loving our neighbors,” but never really knew who those neighbors were or how we were supposed to love them. Finally God “clubbed me over the head” often enough to get me to read through the Bible looking specifically for that. Turned out to be a wonderful way to grow! (You can see a good part of what I found at http://www.sparkleofnature.com, if you care to.)
I don’t usually comment a lot (you have plenty of people who do that very well), but I read your blogs regularly and always enjoy them.
Thank you for sharing this simple, yet revolutionary, truth. I will be thinking about it (and striving to put it into practice) this week…and every week.
Yeah, I think it’s like when you first get married and get your own place you start aquiring things and aquiring things. Then after 10 or 20 years, you realize that you have too much and you have to start paring down, back to the basics again.
The Two Greatest Commandments, the Golden Rule, and “If you would be great in God’s kingdom, then learn to be servant of all” are things we’ve heard over and over. Yet because we are so familiar with them we lose sight of how deeply profound they really are.
.-= Heather´s last blog ..Verses on Faith, part 4 =-.
Thanks for this reminder Pete. It weaves right into all that God is teaching me these days.
.-= Amy Nabors´s last blog ..There are times… =-.
“Trying not to sin doesn’t guarantee I will love more. However, loving others will always result in less sinning.”
Awesome!!
.-= David´s last blog ..my testimony (pt. 1) =-.