What is most striking in the message of Jesus is that love of neighbours is not top of His command of God priority list; love towards God is. This should be a test of whether we have been listening to God's word or merely our own thoughts. If we listen to Jesus we will find love towards God tops His agenda and if we love Jesus we will love God the Father too. God is not just about love of each other but wants love towards Him to be top priority. We might want to spend all our time finding ways to please each other and friends and family and work colleagues and country but Jesus said love towards God is the first commandment. We have to set aside time, even occassionally perhaps for a little while apart from closest family, to set our compass how best pleases God and to prioritise our love for Him. This leads to life. Then love towards others will be better because it will come from a pure heart and sincere faith and clear conscience.
I so love this God: "Vengeance is Mine, and recompense;
Their foot shall slip in due time;
For the day of their calamity is at hand,
And the things to come hasten upon them.’" (Deuteronomy 32:35)
The same God in scriptures of old and new testaments: "Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord." (Romans 12:19).
When He does act it is so decisive and incisive and wise and perfect, you just have to love Him, in awe of Him. 'Love you LORD'. I wait for that day to come around again. Well worth the wait. As Psalm 18 starts: "I will love You, O Lord, my strength.
The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer;
My God, my strength, in whom I will trust;
My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised;
So shall I be saved from my enemies."
Acts 13:8-12 "The proconsul, an intelligent man, sent for Barnabas and Saul because he wanted to hear the word of God. But Elymas the sorcerer (for that is what his name means) opposed them and tried to turn the proconsul from the faith. Then Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked straight at Elymas and said, “You are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right! You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery. Will you never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord? Now the hand of the Lord is against you. You are going to be blind for a time, not even able to see the light of the sun. Immediately mist and darkness came over him, and he groped about, seeking someone to lead him by the hand. When the proconsul saw what had happened, he believed, for he was amazed at the teaching about the Lord."
I personally do have very real enemies living near by and the prayer I pray to God when they triumph over me is that God my Saviour will judge them. God is judge. Enemies of the message God gives me that I pass on as faithfully as I can are for God to judge too. I will love this God when He rescues me and even when He delays. This God commands all to love Him who know that He is God and He commands all to know this: 'He says, "Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth."' (Psalm 46 verse 10). As for judgment of believers: 1 Corinthians 5:10-12 (New American Standard Bible)
"... I did not at all mean with the immoral people of this world, or with the covetous and swindlers, or with idolaters, for then you would have to go out of the world. But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler—not even to eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within the church?"
I am reminded that love for God means 'guarding His commands'. That is a great translation: 'guard His commands' of a tricky phrase of scripture to translate, where the translation 'keep His commands' is a bit ambiguous. Love towards God does indeed compel us to do some serious guarding, inwardly and outwardly. Inwardly our sinful ways trick us into downplaying what God has commanded, perhaps when we are too lazy to want to change those ways if it takes a long period of concentrated self-adjustment. We can love God such that we overcome this laziness by reasserting to ourselves those commands and seeking understanding of them. Outwardly the commands and guarding of them results in backlash from believers and unbelievers who either have forgotten them or been overcome in their own battle and object when we still persist in guarding things of God. We have to be ready for this and overcome it too by persistence in our faith.
I so love this God: "Vengeance is Mine, and recompense;
Their foot shall slip in due time;
For the day of their calamity is at hand,
And the things to come hasten upon them.’" (Deuteronomy 32:35)
The same God in scriptures of old and new testaments: "Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord." (Romans 12:19).
When He does act it is so decisive and incisive and wise and perfect, you just have to love Him, in awe of Him. 'Love you LORD'. I wait for that day to come around again. Well worth the wait. As Psalm 18 starts: "I will love You, O Lord, my strength.
The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer;
My God, my strength, in whom I will trust;
My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised;
So shall I be saved from my enemies."
Acts 13:8-12 "The proconsul, an intelligent man, sent for Barnabas and Saul because he wanted to hear the word of God. But Elymas the sorcerer (for that is what his name means) opposed them and tried to turn the proconsul from the faith. Then Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked straight at Elymas and said, “You are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right! You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery. Will you never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord? Now the hand of the Lord is against you. You are going to be blind for a time, not even able to see the light of the sun. Immediately mist and darkness came over him, and he groped about, seeking someone to lead him by the hand. When the proconsul saw what had happened, he believed, for he was amazed at the teaching about the Lord."
I personally do have very real enemies living near by and the prayer I pray to God when they triumph over me is that God my Saviour will judge them. God is judge. Enemies of the message God gives me that I pass on as faithfully as I can are for God to judge too. I will love this God when He rescues me and even when He delays. This God commands all to love Him who know that He is God and He commands all to know this: 'He says, "Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth."' (Psalm 46 verse 10). As for judgment of believers: 1 Corinthians 5:10-12 (New American Standard Bible)
"... I did not at all mean with the immoral people of this world, or with the covetous and swindlers, or with idolaters, for then you would have to go out of the world. But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler—not even to eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within the church?"
I am reminded that love for God means 'guarding His commands'. That is a great translation: 'guard His commands' of a tricky phrase of scripture to translate, where the translation 'keep His commands' is a bit ambiguous. Love towards God does indeed compel us to do some serious guarding, inwardly and outwardly. Inwardly our sinful ways trick us into downplaying what God has commanded, perhaps when we are too lazy to want to change those ways if it takes a long period of concentrated self-adjustment. We can love God such that we overcome this laziness by reasserting to ourselves those commands and seeking understanding of them. Outwardly the commands and guarding of them results in backlash from believers and unbelievers who either have forgotten them or been overcome in their own battle and object when we still persist in guarding things of God. We have to be ready for this and overcome it too by persistence in our faith.
