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Scripture Reading: Matt. 22:37-38
Several months ago, a certain Western missionary passed away in Fukien province. I once remarked that among the people I have known, she was a very deep person in the Lord. Since I am more knowledgeable about her affairs, I have considered writing a biography for her and have been collecting her lectures, articles, and essays for editing purposes. A package of her belongings arrived several days ago including a piece of paper with the following words written on it: "O God, I thank You, because You have a commandment saying you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind!" Oh! How profound this is! I do not know how many Christians would say, "God, I thank You because You have a commandment which says you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind." Indeed, since we are all believers, we ought to love God. No other religion speaks of loving God like ours. Loving God is unique to Christianity.
The Bible says that he who believes in the Son has life. Believing is adequate because it does not say to believe with all your heart. He that believes will have eternal life. We are never told to believe with all our heart. However, loving God requires all our heart, all our soul, and all our mind.
This is the first commandment. No matter where it is placed, this commandment is always the first. This is also the greatest commandment. Wherever it may be, it is the greatest. Today we must praise God for commanding us to love Him.
God desires that we love Him because this profits Him. To believe in the Lord and have eternal life are for our profit. God not only wants us to believe in Him, but also to love Him. Loving God profits Him.
What kind of condition will we enjoy if we love God? We must look at several matters:
First John 2:15 says, "Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in him." If any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. The love of the Father is something that can be put in us or can leave us. If we let this love of the Father be placed in us, we are able to love the Father.
Many young ones cannot forsake the world. When they are stirred by others in a meeting, it seems that they will not love the world anymore. At a different time they seem to be totally inseparable from the world. We must possess something better within us in order to drop the heart that loves the world. Once there was an art exhibition. While most of the works could be appreciated from a distance, it was necessary to study one of the paintings from close-up in order to understand its meaning. This particular painting, involving a child who was oblivious to all the lovely toys on the floor surrounding him, aptly illustrates a Christian's experience. The child's attention was focused on the windowsill, and he had up-lifted eyes and outstretched arms. The scene was perplexing from a distance, yet after careful observation, one could see a beautiful dove on the windowsill. The caption explained that in order to have the little dove, the child dropped all the toys on the floor. The moral of the painting was that one only discards the second best for the very best. God never demands that we throw anything away. He only places what is better in front of us. In order to obtain it, we will spontaneously forsake many other things.
A young believer who lived with me for two months once told me that he could not forsake the world. He told an old believer, "You can sacrifice because you have tasted all that this world has to offer. But I cannot." This young man knew about believing in God, but not about loving God. While believing in God can save us from sin, only loving God will deliver us from the world. Brothers and sisters, we must allow God's love to enter into us. Once the love of God enters, the world simply slips away.
First John 4:20 says, "If anyone says, I love God, and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen." This is a familiar verse to many, including unbelievers. This verse does not refer to loving the brother in your family, but your brother in Christ. Although the attitudes and behavior of many discourage you from loving them, once God's love enters into you, you will be able to love them. It is not loving the brother whom you love, but all the brothers. It is also not loving a lovable brother, but all the brothers. If you do not love all the brothers, the love of the Father is not in you; but if you have the love of God, you cannot help but love them.
The father of a man was killed; afterwards, the man was determined to get revenge. However, he was a genuine Christian. During the bread-breaking meeting one day, he found himself, along with others around a huge round table, sitting next to his adversary, the one who had killed his father. He left the table and went out because a battle had risen up within him. Should he kill him, or should he return to take the bread with him? At that instant God showed him the love of Christ. He saw that though he himself was an enemy to God, Christ saved him. He was melted by God's love. Wiping his tears, he went in to break bread with his enemy. When they were leaving, he no longer looked upon the man as his adversary, but his brother in Christ. If we truly have the love of God, we are able to love even an unlovable brother.
First John 5:2-3 says, "In this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and do His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome." Why is it that we can keep God's commandments when we love Him? Let us look at John 14:21: "He who has My commandments and keeps them, he is the one who loves Me." This says that if we love the Lord, we will keep His commandments. Brothers and sisters, who among us dares to say that he has kept all the commandments that God has given us? Never mind the unknown commandments, were all the known ones kept? Having God's commandments means to find them. How many believers plug their ears for fear that God may speak a commandment to them? We not only ought to obey when God commands us, we ought to find His commandments. Furthermore, we must keep them once they are found. Seeking God's commandments is our care for Him. This is loving God.
"He who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will manifest Myself to him" (John 14:21b). This speaks of the benefit of loving God. Though I have met many well-known children of God, I have yet to see but a few who know God. Many can read the Bible, but they do not know God. They may understand the Bible, but they do not know the power of God. Others preach without knowing what they are preaching because the Lord has not manifested Himself to them. Even if the Lord were to stand before them, they still could not know Him without His revelation. Many have not experienced the Lord's manifestation because they do not love the Lord; neither do they keep the commandments of the Lord. Only one kind of people love the Lord on this earth — the faithful ones.
Never go to big and popular places to look for those who know the Lord. Oftentimes you will find one serving God in a secluded place or in a simple house. When you see such a one, you meet God's presence. Some people always stir my respect. Others may be zealous, capable, kind, humble, and gentle, but one does not necessarily see God through them. A certain one asked me once, "What were the strong points of this missionary?" I said, "There was always the sensation of God every time I saw her." This is God's revelation. You should remember the great woman of Shunem who said to her husband, "I perceive that this is a holy man of God, which passeth by us continually" (2 Kings 4:9). What had Elisha shown this woman? He did not perform any miracles. Rather, every time he came, he gave the woman the sensation of God. Brothers and sisters, do we love God's manifestation? If we do, we should employ every means to find God's commandments and keep them.
"If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make an abode with him" (John 14:23). God and Christ are present with all who believe in Him; however, God and Christ only make an abode with those who love Him. It is not just a matter of presence, but of an abode. A presence at times cannot be felt. But when one faithfully seeks God's commandments at all costs, he will experience the Lord making an abode with him.
John 15:9-10 says, "As the Father has loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; even as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love." What does abiding in the Lord's love mean? We all sensed how much the Lord loved us when we were first saved. But today we do not sense His love that much. Though we can still speak of the depth of the Lord's love, we do not feel it. If we abide in the Lord's love, we should always sense such a love. Abiding in the Lord's love is just affording Him the opportunity to love. In other words, it is to be enveloped in His love. When others oppose and forsake us, we will really know how the Lord loves us. If we always find God's commandments and obey them, we will abide in His love. Did the Lord not sense the Father's love for even a single moment? He was constantly in the Father's love because He kept God's commandments. In order to abide in the Lord's love, we must always keep His commandments. If the love of God is in us, we can keep even the most difficult of His commandments. Some forsook their parents, some their wives, others their positions, and still others their fame, all because they loved God. They were enabled by the very love of God.
Romans 8:28 says, "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God." Many know this verse well. Only one kind of people enjoy the good: those who love God. If you do not love God, perhaps not even one thing is working for you. God does not alter things; He changes your heart. If you love God, then all things, though unaltered, will work for your good. Sometimes you complain about everything that comes your way. You complain concerning this and concerning that. Yet if love is there, all these will mean nothing to you. Loving God will make an unsatisfactory environment a profitable one.
First Corinthians 2:9-10 says, "But as it is written, `Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard and which have not come up in man's heart; things which God has prepared for those who love Him.' But to us God has revealed them through the Spirit." What do we see in these two verses? What God has prepared for those who believe is eternal life, yet the thing which God has prepared for those who love Him is in the future. Only those who love God can know of this coming blessing. If someone tells you about a marvelous thing he saw, it surely will not be comparable because the coming blessing has not yet been seen by eyes. If someone tells you about a wonderful thing he heard, it also must be a lesser thing than the coming blessing because no ears have heard it. If someone can indeed imagine the unsurpassable best, it still cannot compare to the coming blessing because it has not yet entered into the heart of man. Nevertheless, God has revealed to us by His Spirit this thing which no eyes have seen, no ears have heard, and what has not entered into man's heart. In other words, a lover of the Lord may enjoy what men have not seen, heard, nor dreamed of in this life. When God discloses His glory to you, you will exclaim, "Oh, what joy!" This heavenly glory is so much that you will find it hardly bearable.
Brothers and sisters, we must suffer for the Lord and willingly pay the price to take this way. We must love the Lord so that He can reveal His glory to us.
James 1:12 says, "Blessed is the man who endures trial, because when he has become approved by testing, he will receive the crown of life, which He promised to those who love Him." We often think of the labor we need to perform in order to obtain a crown of life. However, one of the conditions required to gain the crown is to love the Lord. Brothers and sisters, our love toward God is lacking! It seems as if we have already lost our first love! This is most regrettable!
In John 21 the Lord asked Peter if he loved Him and told him to feed His lambs. If someone truly loves the Lord, he will definitely care for people's souls. One cannot love the Lord while neglecting the souls of men. You must care for the souls of your colleagues, relatives, and whoever is close to you.
John 14:28 says, "If you loved Me, you would rejoice because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I." When we love the Lord, we will not only love the brothers and keep God's commandments, but we will also rejoice that the Lord Jesus went to the Father. In other words, we will surely rejoice that the Lord Jesus has gone to the Father to obtain His glory. This is too profound! Many have no realization of the magnitude of glory when the Lord ascended to the Father who is greater than He. Without such a realization, we cannot worship God. We care that those we love will obtain glory, but if we love the Lord, we will definitely rejoice at the Lord's going to the Father.
Matthew 10:37 and 38 say, "He who loves father or mother above Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter above Me is not worthy of Me; and he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me." After reading these two verses, we should realize that only by dropping all considerations can we love the Lord more dearly. A certain believer remarked that when we worship, we should not only be aware of God's greatness but also of His loveliness. This is a most meaningful word. We come before Him and draw near to Him because of His loveliness.
How does God love us? The Bible speaks a great deal about God's loving us. Concerning the individual aspect, it says that He "loved me and gave Himself up for me" (Gal. 2:20). Concerning the corporate aspect, it says that "Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her" (Eph. 5:25). Romans 5:8 tells us that "God commends His own love to us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." First John 4:10 says, "Herein is love, not that we have loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son as a propitiation for our sins." He loved us and sent His Son to die for us. There is no love apart from the cross. Why did the Lord ordain that we break bread once a week? The Lord did not want us to forsake Him or forget Him; He wants to draw us back. If we recall the pain of being sinners and the greatness of the Lord's salvation towards us, how can we not love Him? In the wilderness, the Israelites thought of the melons and leeks of Egypt, forgetting Pharaoh's torment with the pain of slavery and God's deliverance of them out of their anguish. Their hearts would not give up Egypt. If we forget the cross, we will forget God's love; when we forget God's love, we cannot but think of the world.
How can we love God? Luke 7:47 says, "For this reason I say to you, Her sins which are many are forgiven, because she loved much; but to whom little is forgiven, he loves little." If we would only recall how our sins were forgiven, we cannot help but love the Lord. The day the cross ceases to inspire you, you have already fallen. Mr. Evan Roberts wept for months over his inability to receive the cross's inspiration until God touched him. The result was the mighty revival in Wales. Since then there has not been a more prevailing revival. The woman could wash the Lord's feet with her tears, wipe them with her hair, and kiss them with her mouth because she remembered that her sins had been forgiven.
Brothers and sisters, we must stand beneath the cross. Even if our spiritual condition becomes a hundredfold stronger, we should still remember how our sins have been forgiven.
First Corinthians 16:22 says, "If anyone does not love the Lord, let him be accursed! The Lord comes!" This is a most serious word! If anyone does not love the Lord, he is accursed.
Ephesians 6:24 says, "Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ in incorruptibility." To whom is grace given here? God gives it to those who love the Lord in incorruptibility. If others would ask you, "Do you believe in the Lord?", the whole world would marvel if you answer, "I am one who loves the Lord."
First Peter 1:8 says, "Whom having not seen, you love; into whom though not seeing Him at present, yet believing, you exult with joy that is unspeakable and full of glory." This verse says that we love Him because we believe in Him. What is born out of this love through believing? It is joy that is unspeakable and full of glory.
Finally, brothers and sisters, I wish to repeat what that old believer said to the departing young man: "May you be a passionate lover of the Lord Jesus!"
