The Great Command – Part Two
The commandment Jesus exhorted His followers to obey is now referred to as the “Shema.” It contains three objects of our love. The first is, “Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19: 18 and weaving them together formed a binding cord of love. “Jesus said, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.”
Anchor in the safe harbor of your mind that there is “one God.” The concept of the Trinity is illustrated by one bunch of grapes consisting of many grapes. So God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are one unit consisting of three entities.
He is to be loved with the totality of our being: our heart, soul, and bodily strength. They were given a visual aid for their era to remind them of this. They were to write the Shema on pieces of paper and put them in a little leather pouch called a phylactery. One was to be strapped to the forehead reminding them to use their mind in the loving obedience to God. One was to be strapped to their wrist as a reminder to use their strength, their body, in acts of loving obedience. They were to make evidence of this truth in their home by putting it on their door. If a person were to enter your home what physical evidence would there be of your faith?
The text says we are to love God. It doesn’t say we are to have good feelings about Him. Where there is true love there is service and obedience.
The Hebrew word used in Deuteronomy was “aheb,” which refers to the highest kind of love. It motivates a person to do what is right and noble no matter what their feelings might be. It is akin to “agape” in the New Testament.
William Penn, founder of the state of Pennsylvania stated, “Right is right though all be against it, and wrong is wrong though all be for it.” This is a command. It is in the imperative mood; meaning, “do it.”
It is the “great commandment,” not the “greatest.” It is beyond comparison. It stands alone.
We are to love Him as an athlete loves his teammates.
We are to love Him as a soldier loves his country.
We are to love Him as a child loves his or her pet.
We are to love Him as a drowning man loves the shore.
This is our duty, but a virtue isn’t safe until it is transferred from a duty to a desire.
This is a command, not just an ideal. It has the compulsion of what God delivered to Moses on Sinai. It is a revolutionary idea.
We are to love Him “AS our God.” This means He should be the one receiving our maximum devotion, our ultimate adoration, our supreme obedience, our full allegiance. He is our God.
Loving Him isn’t so difficult in light of the fact “God loved us and sent His son…”