God's Priorities

Jesus was talking with a group of people, and someone asked him what was the most important commandment. Jesus quoted a part of the Bible that said we should love God. That was command #1. And command #2 was to love people.

How does one love God? After all, it's not like we can give him a birthday present, or treat him to dinner.

At the Last Supper, Jesus shared with his disciples that we show God love when we keep his commandments. So, in order to keep command #1, we need to keep command #2.

There are a lot of people who call followers of Jesus hypocrites. Many, because we say we are supposed to love people, but we do not. And this is partly true. As followers of Jesus, if we are honest, we know that we continue to sin, because sin is still present in our lives. We are forgiven, but not yet perfected. So, we do not always follow Jesus as we should. 

But, I think we could argue that, because of sin, not one single individual maintains their standard of right and wrong. So, everyone on the planet says one thing and does another. So, everyone on the planet is a hypocrite. 

Just as there are some people who are more moral than others, there are some people who are less hypocritical than others. But everyone has a moral standard, and everyone breaks it at some point. Which ー someone acting contrary to their beliefs ー is the definition of hypocrisy, as I understand it.

Another part is how one defines love. One loves one's spouse, or partner. One loves members of one's family. And one loves pizza. These are all loves, but these are all different from one another.

Scripture recognizes multiple kinds of love: between spouse/partner, between friends, between parents and children, and one that should be expressed to neighbors, strangers, and enemies. In other words, everyone!

Scripture does not give a definition for this love. But it does give a list of characteristics that the author (Paul, in this case) intends to paint a picture of what this love looks like. I am intending to do a series of short posts to examine each of these characteristics. I am hoping to increase our understanding of love, and, maybe, I can grow in loving people better.