May the mumbling commence!
“Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God the Lord is One. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength… And you shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
There we have the greatest commandment as defined by Jesus, God’s Word. Love God with all you have and love your neighbor/brother/sister as yourself. It is a message that God has consistently been saying from the very beginning (1 John 3:11).
I had postulated that the ancient command was to obey and the new command to love… Perhaps, I got them turned around. Love comes first; then, obedience follows. But, where does love come from? Read a succinct flow chart of this progression from love to obedience. Read from First John chapter three (NIV):
And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us. (Verses 23-24)
Can you see the simple flow chart?
1) Believe in Jesus, God’s Son.
2) Love one another.
3) Obey God’s commands.
In this way, we live in God; and God lives in us. In this way, we receive the anointing of the Spirit of God. And the Holy Spirit helps us to do these very things.
So let’s review the commands of God found in First John:
1) Believe in Jesus.
2) Abide…
A) In Jesus.
B) In God.
C) In the Holy Spirit.
D) In the Word of God.
3) Stick together.
4) Love one another.
5) Confess Jesus Christ.
6) Allow nothing to contradict the anointing you have received through God.
That’s a nice list. But, where is our love of God? I believe that in doing these commands of God we show our love for God.
We should look further into love, for it is an important concept if we are to understand God. But that searching is for another series of mumblings…
Enough mumbling for now…
Peace Out
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