Devo 1: Putting first things first...

Putting first things first: Matthew 22:35-36

"Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing him and saying, 'Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?' Jesus said to him, 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, 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 neighbor as yourself.' On these hang all the Law and the Prophets."

Now, I know all of you are familiar with this passage. It is engrained in us at a very young age, but I wonder if we truly grasp the importance of it. Jesus, God Incarnate, was telling us the two most important commands that God had ever spoken in all of the Law (Torah, Gen.-Deut.) and the Prophets (the rest of OT except the poetic writings).

Close your eyes a minute and imagine Jesus standing in the room with you right now. Ask him, "What are the commands most important to you?" Seriously, try it. Maybe He will speak something to your heart, but I am sure He would say, "Love Me with all your heart, and love your neighbor as yourself." These commands are that important.

Now, how do we truly love the Lord with all of our heart? Is it even possible for us to love Him? Our love is conditional, frail, weak, and totally human. Is it possible for us to love a God who's love is unconditional, eternal, never-forsaking, and totally "other-than"?

In the Greek New Testament, the word for God's unconditional love is agapao. The word for our human, brotherly love and affection is phileo. In John 21:15-17, Jesus has a dialogue with Peter asking him, "Peter, do you agapao me?" He was asking Peter if he loved Jesus with the unconditional love of the Father. He asked Peter this twice, and you can imagine Peter's broken-hearted response as he answered each time, "Lord, you know I phileo you." Then, Jesus would respond, "Feed my sheep." Finally, on the third time, Jesus finally switches the word for love and says, "Peter, do you phileo me?" Peter, acknowledging his weakness agrees, "Lord, you know I phileo you."

What implications does this have for us in loving God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength? How is it possible for us to truly love Him? We find the answer in I John 4:19. "We love Him because He first loved us," or for illustration's sake, "We agapao Him because He first agapao us."

We cannot love the Lord unconditionally on our own strength. We can't work it up. We can't make ourselves love Him, and we can't truly love others until we first receive His love. We cannot make Him love us. He already does because it is His very essence. God is Love (I John 4:8). He manifested His love toward us by sending His Son to die on the Cross (I John 4-9, John 3:16).

What we need to do is to learn how to receive God's love. We have to position our hearts to let Him love us. There are so many things that hinder us from receiving God's love, because of past hurts, lack of trust, false ideas that God doesn't truly love us or that we have to earn His love, etc...

So, I want you to try this for the next week. Everyday, quiet yourself before the Lord at least 20 minutes and ask Him, "Do you love me? Will you take away everything in me that keeps me from receiving your love. I need your unconditional love in my life, so I can love you more. I can't do it in myself. I want to love you with all my heart, soul, mind and strength. Help me. Come and reveal your love to me."

Of course, you can pray your own version of this prayer, but try it. Also, here are some meditation scriptures for you: I John 4:9-10,19, John 14:13, 17:23, 26.

One practical thing, if while you are asking the Lord to take away everything that keeps you from receiving His love, you might begin to feel issues surfacing in your life that will be painful, but bring them to the Lord rather than trying to ignore them. Let Him work on them and take them away. He will do it, because He desires to lavish His love on you.

Blessings,

Amanda

Copyright © 2010, Amanda Rich, All Rights Reserved