Articles
What God Wants Is Love
When Jesus was asked by a man of the law, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” (Matt. 22:35, 36), He replied, “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 two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets” (Matt. 22:37-40). I am sure the ones who challenged Jesus with this question thought they could stump Him or at least force Him to choose one commandment over another, but Jesus answered in a way they did not anticipate and, sadly, we are not surprised that they would not think of love as one of the most important commands.
When Jesus said that all the Law and the Prophets hang on these two great commandments of loving God and loving one's fellow man, He summed up the basic desire of God for all of mankind — that they love Him and love one another. This has always been what God desired of us.
How so?
Let's go back to the beginning, when God created man and woman and put them in the garden with one particular law given: “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (Gen. 2:16, 17). We know that the woman was deceived and she ate of the forbidden tree, and that she gave to the man of that same fruit and he also ate (Gen. 3:1-6); they both sinned.
We also know that, as a result of their sin, they were banished from the garden and God “placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life” because if he had access to it, he could eat and live forever (Gen. 3:22-24). That tells us God wanted man to live forever, because he had previously granted him access to that tree. God told man not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil because He wanted man to live forever. He told man not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and He expected man to believe Him, trust Him, and obey Him. What God did for man and what God commanded man was for his good — and because God loved him and desired that man love Him, too.
But now you might be asking, "What's love got to do with it?" The answer lies in the words of Jesus, when He said many years later, “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15). You see, loving God meant keeping His commandments, and since God gave man a commandment [for his own good], the way man would have proved his love for God was by his obedience to God's command. Man obviously failed, but the point we should not overlook is that, since the beginning, God wanted man to love Him.
When God delivered the Law [specifically, the Ten Commandments] to His people, the Israelites, the first four commands were about loving God, and the last six were about loving one's fellow man. [See Exod. 20:1-17.] But, as Jesus noted, “all the Law and the Prophets” hung on the two great commandments of loving God and loving one's fellow man. Every law God gave to His people was based on either love of God or love of one's fellow man.
But God clearly noted His desire that man love Him and love one another. In the Old Law, God said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength” (Deut. 6:5). He also said, “you shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Lev. 19:18). These commands would be repeated to His people throughout their history, and they would be chastised and strongly condemned when they failed to do either or both. God plainly told the Israelites they would suffer His wrath because “They do not defend the fatherless, nor does the cause of the widow come before them” (Isa. 1:23); they did not love their fellow man. He would condemn them to captivity because they had “committed adultery with their idols” (Ezek. 23:37); they did not love Him.
And in the New Testament, the desire of God that we love Him and love one another continues to be shown. Again, in the answer of Jesus as to the greatest command, love of God and love of one's neighbor topped all others (cf. Matt. 22:37-40), but Jesus spoke of His desire that we prove our love by our obedience (cf. John 14:15), and commanded a higher love of one another, with His love for us as the standard of measure, saying, “This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you” (John 15:12). He would even say this love is what would be the identifying mark of His disciples (John 13:34, 35). That is how important love is!
Paul would take up the call to disciples to have love for one another, telling the Roman brethren, “Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law,” and, “love is the fulfillment of the law” (Rom. 13:8, 10). He would remind those in Thessalonica, “you yourselves are taught by God to love one another” (1 Thess. 4:9).
Peter would add to this when he commanded the early disciples that they should “love one another fervently with a pure heart” (1 Pet. 1:22), and would later write, “And above all things have fervent love for one another” (1 Pet. 4:8). Note he said not just love, but fervent love!
And, finally, John would add several exhortations to love one another. In his epistles, John would urge the early disciples, “Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother. For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another” (1 John 3:10, 11); he would also write, “And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment” (1 John 3:23), and, “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God” (1 John 4:7), and, “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another” (1 John 4:11), and, “he who loves God must love his brother also” (1 John 4:21), and, “that which we have had from the beginning: that we love one another. This is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment, that as you have heard from the beginning, you should walk in it” (2 John 1:5, 6).
Are you starting to see just how important love should be to the people of God?
From just the passages we have considered today [there are many more addressing the subject], we can know God wants us to love Him, and our love is demonstrated by our obedience to Him; we can also know He has a strong desire that we love one another. In fact, He says we cannot really love Him if we do not love our brother!
So, where do you stand? Are you one who professes to love God? If so, do you strive keep His commandments — all of them? Do you love your fellow man as Christ loved you? Love is not mere words and some warm feeling we get in our chests; love must be proven by deeds (John 14:15; 1 John 3:17). Is our love in word only, or “in deed and in truth”?
God wants us to love Him because He wants us to want be with Him in heaven. He doesn't want mindless robots; He wants people who love Him. —— Steven Harper
