The first of all the commandments is: Listen, and hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. This is the first commandment. And the second is like this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these. (Mark 12:29-31)
God loves us with a perfect love and desires that we love him in return. The more we love God the more we feel his love for us and the happier we are in return. His commandments are given to guide and protect us from misery, sorrow, suffering and regret. Therefore the first great commandment is to love God. The question is, how do we do that?
He that has my commandments and keeps them, he it is that loves me. And he that loves me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him and will manifest myself to him.
… If a man love me, he will keep my words, and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him and make our abode with him. He that loves me not keeps not my sayings. And the word which you hear is not mine, but the Father’s, who sent me. (John 14:21,23-24)
Those who claim to believe the Bible and accept Christ as their Savior but do not keep his commandments do not love Him.
The way to love God is by keeping his commandments. If we do so properly the promise is that Christ will personally visit us. The problem then is correctly identifying his commandments and understanding how to keep them. It's not enough to simply say we have faith because faith requires actions.
What profit is it, my brethren, for a man to say he has faith, and has not works? Can faith save him? Yea, a man may say, I will show you I have faith without works. But I say, show me your faith without works and I will show you my faith by my works. … Even so faith, if it has not works, it is dead, being alone. Therefore will you know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead and cannot save you. (James 2:14,17-18)
Prior to fulfilling the Law of Moses and replacing it with the Law of Christ, Israel was commanded to meditate on God's law day and night.
This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate therein day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written therein; for then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall have good success. (Joshua 1:8)
Time spent in the scriptures draws us closer to Christ. I feel doing so daily is important. I believe most of us should be doing so a lot more often.
What about you?
Have you sincerely searched the scriptures for Christ's commandments? Prayerfully sought to understand how they are to be applied in your life?
Reading all my posts may take you some time but bear with it and I believe you will walk away with a greater understanding of what Christ expects of you in order to return to Him.
