Love God | Wayfarer

You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.
2 Corinthians 3:3 (NIV)

Yesterday I delivered the final of a trilogy of messages among our local gathering of Jesus’ followers. In the message, I talked about one of the basic differences between the way the kingdoms of this world operate and the way Jesus taught and exemplified that the Kingdom of God operates.

The kingdoms of this world are all about power. I’ve experienced it on all sorts of different levels in all sorts of different ways. Whoever has the power and authority uses that power to dictate policies that those under authority must follow and obey. It’s just the way things work in a fallen world.

Jesus, on the other hand, relinquished His divine authority when He chose to leave heaven and come to earth and live as one of us. The motivation was servant-hearted love for us, His creation. He wasn’t about top-down power and authoritative systemic policies. He was about individual human hearts and lives changed by love, then gratefully motivated to pay that love forward towards other individuals. Spirit principles not human policies.

In His parable of the sheep and goats (Matthew 25:31-46), Jesus speaks of Judgement Day. The difference between those who enter the Kingdom of Heaven and those who are sent to the fire is about how well individuals loved others. The only policies or rules involved are the two Jesus said were the only two that mattered: Love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love others as you love yourself. One of the fascinating things about the parable is that the sheep are unaware that they were loving God as they loved others. The goats, on the other hand, thought they were loving God going through religious motions and keeping rules. There was no evidence, however, of them loving others.

In today’s chapter, Paul uses a simple but beautiful metaphor as he tells the believers in Corinth that they themselves are Paul’s “letter of recommendation.” Their hearts and lives, changed by the love of Jesus that Paul brought to Corinth, are all the commendation that Paul desires or requires. Paul, like Jesus, is concerned about loving his Corinthian friends well.

I think it’s probably a good thing that on this Monday morning these things are rattling around in my heart and mind. As I enter a new work week and look at a schedule full of meetings, one-on-ones, and activities, I want to be motivated by the right things. It’s about people.

Lord Jesus, help me to love others well. The way you have loved me.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

These chapter-a-day blog posts are also available via podcast on all major podcast platforms including Apple, Google, and Spotify! Simply go to your podcast platform and search for “Wayfarer Tom Vander Well.” If it’s not on your platform, please let me know!

In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome…
1 John 5:3 (NIV)

In today’s chapter, John states that loving God means keeping His commands.

Stop right there.

When I read “keeping His commands” what immediately, unconsciously sprang to mind in the twinkling of an eye were things like:

Going to church.
Giving 10% of your income to the church.
Don’t [insert that most guilt producing behavior here].
Stop [insert that nagging bad habit I know I should break].

Jesus said there were only two basic commands:

Love God.
Love others as you love yourself (btw, if I don’t love myself well in a healthy way, then I’m handicapped in both the loving God and loving others part.

Everything flows from love, and as I mentioned in yesterday’s post, the flow originates from God, not from me. This is not a one-way relationship unless I choose not to love God back. The love is always, has always flowed towards me from God. I can ignore it. I can misinterpret it. I can twist it into something it’s not. I can deflect it. I can resist it. I can actively work against it. I can think about it endlessly, and even mentally acknowledge it is there.

It’s only when I receive it that something changes in me.

Along my spiritual journey, this is the one thing that I observe most people not understanding about being a follower of Jesus. I always think it’s about me “obeying His commands” in order to earn His love like a merit badge. I behave like God is miserly standing at His faucet of love ever determining how much love the Ol’ Miser is going to let flow out the spicket (from a limited supply) based on how good I’ve been. That’s often the way it works in human relational economics, I’m afraid. So, it’s easy for me to project that onto God. But, Jesus never taught that.

The love is always flowing to me from the unlimited source.

It’s only when I receive that it makes any difference.

In the quiet this morning, I remember Jesus’ criticism of the religious rule-keepers:

“Instead of giving you God’s Law [Remember: Love God, love others. -TVW] as food and drink by which you can banquet on God, they package it in bundles of rules, loading you down like pack animals. They seem to take pleasure in watching you stagger under these loads, and wouldn’t think of lifting a finger to help.”
Matthew 23:4-5 (MSG)

Then I hear Him say:

“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”
Matthew 11:28-30 (MSG)

When I received His invitation. Things began to change.

Along my spiritual journey, that’s the thing I have to continually remind myself. It’s not about me being good to earn a trickle of love. It’s about me learning to receive freely from the unlimited flow. It’s then that love changes me and directs the flow back to God, on to others.