Love In Action...
God Expects Nothing Short Of Perfection!
This is the Third Post in the serialization of Chapter 1 of the book Friends With God
As we have seen in the First Post in this series, we must demonstrate our faith and love toward God, by our love toward others. In the Second Post we started to examine the story of the Good Samaritan.
No matter who we are, or how ignorant of God’s way of life we are (as the Samaritan was), we are judged by God in how we put love in action toward other people- be they friends we know well, or potential friends- commonly called strangers.
Many people feel that “loving our neighbour” is the central teaching that Jesus gave us, and, as the story of the Good Samaritan demonstrates, by actively loving others we are identified by God as his friends.
However, we may not even think that we are friends of God, as the Samaritan in the parable highlights. He most probably thought that the Priest and Levite were much closer to God than he was, and no doubt the Priest and Levite would have heartily agreed with his assessment!
Yet, this famous parable clearly indicates that our knowledge, or even our God-chosen role in society, is unimportant, compared to our actions of mercy and love toward others.
If we don’t love God by demonstrating compassion and mercy toward other people, then everything else is meaningless: By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not burdensome. (1John 5:2-3)
God’s commandments are based on love to God and to our neighbour, as Jesus explained when asked “Master, which is the great commandment in the Law? Jesus said to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and 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 neighbour as yourself. (Then Jesus elaborated on these two great laws by saying) On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” (Matt 22:35-40)
Again in Mark 12:28-34, when talking about these two commandments, Jesus concluded with a similar statement: There is no other commandment greater than these.
All the commandments and laws that God provides in his written word, show us how to love God and others, with depth and understanding. This is why his commandments are not burdensome, because they are for our good, not for our harm. They do not weigh us down but lighten our path on the way of life.
This is why Jesus said “my yoke is easy and my burden is light”- the truth of God is to give us his good and loving way of life to live, that will promote peace and love throughout the world.
Yet, we need to understand that while the Ten Commandments are important, they are not the foundation of the Bible, for love is the foundation of the Ten Commandments. Indeed, love toward God and neighbour is the foundation of all the laws, of which there are over 600 in scripture. And, if you will please read Mark 12:28-34, you will see that some of the leaders of the Jews also understood this, for Jesus said to the scribe: You are not far from the kingdom of God.
Yet, as shown in the parable of the Good Samaritan, to show love to your neighbour through mercy and compassion doesn’t take an in-depth understanding of the 600+ laws, nor esoteric knowledge of the mysteries of God.
The point of this dramatic and confronting story is that someone, even as ignorant and despised as a Samaritan, can understand the need for mercy, love and compassion!
And because he understood this simple truth, the Samaritan was on the path to eternal life, whereas the Priest and Levite (even with their great and detailed knowledge of the revealed word of God) were not!
Yet remaining in ignorance of God’s law is not how God expects us to live, for the law is to guide us in how we actively love God:
For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is a light; and reproofs (correction) of instruction are the way of life; (Prov 6:23)
To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them. (Isa 8:20)
Through Your Commandments I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way. Your Word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path. (Psalm 119:104-105)
Love to neighbour is also not restricted to those who love us, as we are even told to love our enemies: You have heard that it was said, "You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy." (which is not in scripture) But I say to you, Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who despitefully use you and persecute you, so that you may become sons of your Father in Heaven. … Therefore be perfect, even as your Father in Heaven is perfect. (Matt 5:43-48)
God expects us to go beyond ignorance and onward to perfection, by walking in the light of his truth as revealed in his law.
But what exactly does “being perfect” entail? We can see that by using the term “sons”, Jesus is projecting the expectation that we must behave in unison with how God our Father lives. This means that we will actually have within us the very mind of God: For let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus. (Phil 2:5)
Similarly: For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ. (1Cor 2:16) In order to have the mind of God, so as to be counted as the friends and sons of God, we need to reflect the perfect love of God when relating to other people.
Each friendship is unique, and your walk with God as your friend, is going to be unlike anyone else’s walk with him. You need to personally take up the challenge that he has set for you.
You can’t rely on anyone else except God to guide you on this walk. He will guide you through his Spirit, and his Word. (John 14:6, 16:12-15) You must take the time to prove everything that anyone tells you about what is in scripture. (1Thes 5:21)
Once you learn to listen to, and obey God’s guidance through his words and Spirit, then you, too, shall be safely on the path to becoming the perfect friends of God!
In the fourth post in this series we will start to examine the example of Abraham, the first person in scripture called the Friend of God.