Do You Love God?

I just want to share about a topic that has been on my heart alot lately. Giving to the poor. It's a pretty controversial subject even amongst believers, but I'm still going to share what I believe is true.

Matthew 22:35-40 says: One Pharisee, who was an expert in the law of Moses, asked Jesus this question to test him: 36"Teacher, which command in the law is the most important?" 37 Jesus answered, "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.' 38 This is the first and most important command. 39 And the second command is like the first: 'Love your neighbor as you love yourself.' 40 All the laws and the writings of the prophets depend on these two commands."

As it says, the Pharisee was an expert in the law. The Pharisees had 600+ laws that they would live by which they considered religion. The definition of religion is man's attempt at reaching God. So in this, Jesus is basically telling them, "Throw away your laws. It isn't about religion. You are commanded to love." Love means relationship so we are to have a relationship with God. Even though the relationship starts with the forgiveness of sins through belief and recognition of Jesus Christ, it's not supposed to stop there. When you love someone, you work at the relationship. Which brings up another point: love is NOT a feeling, it is a choice. We choose to love God because He first loved us.
Notice, the second command is like it. This means that they go hand-in-hand.

1 John 4:7-8 says: Dear friends, we should love eachother, because love comes from God. Everyone who loves has become God's child and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

You can't love others if you don't love God. You can't love God if you don't love others. It isn't an option, it IS a command. This means our love for others will require sacrifice.

John 13:34-35 says: "I give you a new command: Love each other. You must love eachother as I have loved you. 35 All people will know that you are my followers if you love eachother."

Jesus gives us this command shortly before he went to the cross as the ultimate sacrifice. His sacrifice was because he loves us. From this we should realize that when he tells us to love others as he has loved us, that it obviously means sacrifice. He also says they "will know that you are my followers if you love eachother." The world WILL see God when we love eachother. It can also be said that when we show love for others it shows our love for God. How we love others DEFINES our love for God. So how do we do it?

James 1:26-27 says: People who think they are religious but say things they should not say are just fooling themselves. Their "religion" is worth nothing. 27 Religion that God accepts as pure and without fault is this: caring for orphans or widows who need help, and keeping yourself free from the world's evil influence.

The word "care" that he uses here means "to take in." It doesn't just mean be aware of them and care that they are in need. This means to take them in and actually help them. I don't know about you, but this passage scares me a little. Only because we don't always understand it. It means that if we are not doing these things, our "religion" or "love" is not acceptable.

1 John 3:16-18 says: This is how we know what real love is: Jesus gave his life for us. So we should give our lives for our brothers and sisters. 17 Suppose someone has enough to live and sees a brother or sister in need, but does not help. Then God's love is not living in that person. 18 My children, we should love people not only with words and talk, but by our actions and true caring."

This needs no explanation and there really isn't any watered down version of God's command. It simply is. But here is also a bit of encouragement as well as a warning.

James 1:9-11 says: Believers who are poor should take pride that God has made them spiritually rich. 10 Those who are rich should take pride that God has shown them that they are spiritually poor. The rich will die like a wild flower in the grass. 11 The sun rises with burning heat and dries up the plants. The flower falls off, and its beauty is gone. In the same way the rich will die while they are still taking care of business.

Here he is saying that we should not be afraid to give. We will be spiritually rich and God will be glorified. But if we are rich and remain comfortable, we will lack spiritually and will not show God's love.
When we give we should not boast to gain approval from man because that is not honoring to God. But we should tell others to encourage them to do the same.

I pray that your eyes will be opened and that you have a new understanding of these commandments.