Theme: THE LOVE OF GOD
Love is one of the attributes of God Almighty which He gave to man. God loves us because He created us. (Psalm 100:3. Compare John 10:10-13) That He created man perfect, provided all that he needs to live happily on earth and gave him dominion over the earth, are expressions of that love. In the words of the Psalmist: “Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him. For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.” (Psalm 103:13, 14) Even though man fell, God Almighty did not leave him to his fate but made a way out by sending His only begotten son, Jesus Christ to pay back the life man lost. “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8) The unselfish and undying concern for the well being of human beings, is what we are enjoined to reciprocate by sincere worship and love for one another. “Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.” – Ephesians 4:31, 32.
Text: “Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” – Matthew 22:35-40. See also Mark 12:28-34.
Comment: The Lord Jesus Christ, in answer to a question from a lawyer, showed that all the laws of God hang on love: the love of God and the love of one’s neighbour. One who loves God with all his heart will serve Him willingly, even under difficult conditions. Such a one will not violate the laws of God to satisfy personal pleasures, to please men or due to fear of death. Christ said: “He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.” (Matthew 10:37-39) The Samaritan did all he could to help a Jew who had been injured, robbed and left to die – even though the Jews had no dealings with the Samaritans. (Luke 10:25-37) He did so because of God and because he loved his neighbour as himself. Job, the servant of God said he does not despise the cause of his neighbour, the fatherless, the widows or anyone saying: “If I did despise the cause of my manservant or of my maidservant, when they contended with me; What then shall I do when God riseth up? and when he visiteth, what shall I answer him? Did not he that made me in the womb make him? and did not one fashion us in the womb?” – Job 31:13-15.