Submitted by Pastor Rodney Hopper, First Christian Church, Rock Port

Do we really love God? Is our love for God expressed in our relationships with those around us? Jesus told us the two greatest commandments; “35 And one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question to test Him. 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And He said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” Matthew 22:35-40 (ESV)
If we truly love God and our neighbor, then we are demonstrating obedience to all the Ten Commandments and teachings of the Bible, all 613 of them in the Old Testament. I John 4:20-21 tells us, “If someone says, ‘I love God’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him: That he who loves God must love his brother also.”
If loving God with my whole being is a given, then how do I love myself? Well, for starters, I’m always thinking about myself. I think about what I’m going to eat for breakfast, what I need to do at work, what I need to pick up from the store on the way home. I also love myself by making my needs top-priority. How I schedule my day revolves around the things I want or need to accomplish. Basically, my thoughts and my day are centered on me. So when Jesus tells us to love our neighbors as we love ourselves, that’s one tall order. He’s saying we need to think about others as much as we think about ourselves. He means we should remember the needs of others like we remember our own. He means seeking the happiness, goodness, peace, security of others as much as we seek those things in our own lives. How can we do this especially to those who annoy us, hurt us, or perhaps even persecute us? How do we love others more than just once in a while? When I think about loving my neighbors sacrificially, as a priority it seems impossible. I can’t even say I do this fully for the people I love most. But then I remember the first part of Jesus’ command “Love God with all your heart, soul and mind.” There’s my answer. When I focus all my love toward God, he takes my selfish heart and transforms it into a heart capable of loving others. I no longer need others to validate me, be kind or loving toward me in order to love them back. Christ’s love is enough.  He fills me up so I can pour out selfless love to others.
What am I doing that may not be loving others? Maybe we shouldn’t be like Donald MacDonald from the Isle of Skye who, after being admitted to Oxford University in England, was living his first year of residence in a dorm room there. His family was very excited that one of their own had made it into the upper class of education, but were concerned how he’d do in “that strange land.” After the first month, his mother came to visit, with treats from Scotland. “And how do you find the English students, Donald?” she asked. “Oh, Mother,” he replied, shaking his head sadly, “they’re such terrible, noisy people: The one on that side keeps banging his head against the wall, and won’t stop; and the one on the other side screams and screams and screams away into the night.” “But Donald! How do you manage with those dreadful noisy English neighbors?” “Well, mother, I just ignore ’em. I just stay here quietly, playing my bagpipes…” (LOL)
How then do you know if you are genuinely loving your neighbor? The Apostle Paul gave us a great guide for answering this question in I Corinthians 13:4-8, “Love is kind and patient, never jealous, boastful, proud, or rude. Love isn’t selfish or quick tempered. It doesn’t keep a record of wrongs that others do. Love rejoices in the truth, but not in evil. Love is always supportive, loyal, hopeful, and trusting. Love never fails!” This chapter is often referred to as “The Love Chapter,” because it serves as a great method of measuring our love for our neighbor. This is the description of “agape,” the God-kind of love. It’s self-giving and never selfish. It puts others first. It takes no record of wrongs. It is “agape,” God-kind of love that moved the Father to send His Son to die for the sins of the world (John 3:16). Human love lasts only as long as the object of that love meets expectations, and that’s because it’s based on natural emotions and desires. But the love of God, on the contrary, never fails! It doesn’t change even if the behavior of the one to whom it is directed changes. This is the reason God could love a world of wicked sinners, for He looked beyond their sins to see what they could be if they trusted in Him. As a believer, with the power of the Holy Spirit living within, you can love others the way God loves them; for you no longer have to rely on your own willpower or human emotions to love them!