Matthew 22:37–Greatest Commandment

Matthew 22:37–"He said to them, 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind."

Although I have written on this verse before, because it is such a foundational text I am going to look at it still.  But like an overflowing well we can go back to it again and again.  I only want to ask a simple albeit direct question today:

Why does God command this?

God does not need anything, and He most certainly does not need our love.  Furthermore, even in commanding it, He, being omniscient, had to have known that we would be unable or, at the very least, unwilling.  This leads to one logical conclusion:

God knew that we would need to love Him.

Consider that today, ponder it as you live life, thinking about how God created us needing to love Him. There is so much more to say about this but suffice for now to acknowledge that He did this by His good pleasure and will.  Therefore, let us strive to love God, not just because He commanded it but also because to love Him is, after all, the essence of our being.  To not love Him, then, would be like denying who we are in our core.  Let us simply turn to Him in love and adoration so as to keep our focus and our input right and in line with what God intended for us from the beginning.

New Commandment for Christians

Jesus has these words for us in the Gospel of John–"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another." John 13:34.

This is not a mere suggestion made by Jesus; it is a commandment.  It is not sufficient to think of this as  simply a proposal to love one another.  No.  Jesus uses the very specific word: commandment.  This means that this is how God expects us to live.  There is no getting around this one, Jesus calls us to love one another.  And not just to love any old way but to love as He has loved us.  This is no small feat.  It demands that we rely fully upon Christ for it is only by His strength and in His Spirit that we could ever fulfill this commandment.  Let us then turn to Christ so as to fulfill His new commandment.