Glory to God! The Lord God has been good to us each day of this past week. We are spiritually encouraged, strengthened, and refreshed as we continue to meditate on God’s Word on a regular basis. These experiences will elevate our trust in the Lord and give us proper and purposeful direction and guidance in our spiritual journey. During Jesus’ earthly ministry, Jesus was right there to teach/guide His disciples and show them the right path for righteous living. He trained His disciples for ministry the way He was trained by His Father in heaven. Just as Jesus said and did everything according to His Father’s command, He wants His disciples to do the exact things He taught and showed them to do. Jesus not only trained and prepared them for ministry, but also He defended and protected His disciples while He was with them, and even prayed to the Father to protect them as His time to return to heaven was approaching. He prayed:

10 All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. 11 I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one. 12 While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me (John 17:10-12)

After going up to His Father in heaven (upon fulfilling the purpose of His coming down to earth), the Holy Spirit was sent by the heavenly Father to lead and guide the apostles, other disciples, and all those who come to know Christ through their ministry.  This all happened in accordance with Jesus’ promise to them:

16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you … 28  You heard me say, ‘I am going away and I am coming back to you (John 14:16-20, 28)

[Jesus continued saying that] 7 But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you … 13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14 He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you (John 16:7, 13-14)

In one of Apostle Paul’s letter to the Corinthian believers, He stated that Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:17-18). Apostle Paul’s statement reveals the fact that the Lord God is One (the triune God – the unity of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit) and the presence of God is with His people at all times (Deuteronomy 6:4; Matthew 28:19; John 1:1-2, 14; 10:30, 38b; 17:21-23). In the beginning God the Father walked with His saints (Genesis 3:8-9; 5:21-24), later Jesus came down from heaven as a human being and lived among us (to know the details read through the gospel accounts), after His return to heaven, the Holy Spirit was sent to the world (particularly, to be with the people of God) and He will continue to remain in the world until Jesus’ return. In a nutshell, God’s presence is there with His people at all times, which means, there is no time or space in this universe where God’s presence is absent.  His people will also never be cast off from His presence permanently, as prophet Jeremiah stated: For no one is cast off by the Lord forever. Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love. For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to anyone (Lamentations 3:31-33). In addition to this, Jesus assured His followers that He will not leave them alone as orphans (John 14:18). As Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James (who were both brothers of Jesus), noted in his Epistle (Jude 1:1, 25): To the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen!

Let us focus on the captivating Scripture passage the Lord has blessed us with for our Scripture for the Week meditation, which is taken from the gospel of Luke: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and, Love your neighbor as yourself (Luke 10:27). Ever since mankind was created, God did not ask anything of them other than to love Him and obey His righteous laws, decrees, and commands. Moses wrote: And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in obedience to him, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe the LORD’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good (Deuteronomy 10:12-13). We, as mankind, have no excuse to make before God because God is the one who created us, He is the one who gave us His righteous laws and decrees, and He is the one who commanded us to obey His righteous laws and decrees. God also showed us His good and perfect will for us, as stated by prophet Micah: He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God (Micah 6:8). When God created mankind, He created us in His image and likeness (Genesis 1:26-27; 2:7) and instilled in us some of the divine qualities, which includes the ability to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with our God. All these factors point to the fact that we are created to love God (Luke 10:27a), to love our neighbor (Luke 10:27b), and to do good to everyone near or far (Galatians 6:10).

Jesus earnestly taught His followers (including the apostles and other disciples) saying And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength and love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:37-40; Mark 12:30-31; Luke 10:27). To Love God and to love our neighbor are the two Greatest Commandments among the all the commandments God has given to humanity (Mark 12:31b) as all the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments (Matthew 22:37-40). This is what Jesus taught His disciples to practice in their own life and teach others to practice the same. God spoke though Moses that You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might (Deuteronomy 6:5), and God spoke through prophet Micah that He has shown His people what is good: To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God (Micah 6:8).

From what we have discussed above, regarding the statement He has shown you, O mortal, what is good, which is mentioned in Micah 6:8, we can understand that it was God who first showed us what is good. Similarly, it was God who first loved us (1 John 4:19), then He asked us to Love God and love one another. The manifestation of God’s love and care for us was initially demonstrated in the beginning of the Old Testament time at the Garden of Eden as God cared for Adam and Eve (Genesis 3:21), and, more recently, as He sent His beloved Son to the world (Matthew 1:18-25; John 3:16).  God demonstrated His love for us at the beginning of the New Testament era at the Garden of Gethsemane where the ransom death of Jesus was sealed (Matthew 26:38-39, 42; Mark 14:36; Luke 22:42; John 18:11), and this love was fulfilled at Golgotha on Mount Calvary (Matthew 27:45-54; Mark 15:33-39; Luke 23:44-46; John 19:28-20). It does not matter what life-situation we are in, God’s promise is that He will never leave us nor forsake us (Deuteronomy 31:8; Hebrews 13:5). God’s love for us will never fail but will continue for ever and ever, as it is mentioned in Psalms: 

1 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His love endures forever.  2 Give thanks to the God of gods. His love endures forever.  3 Give thanks to the Lord of lords: His love endures forever (Psalm 136:1-3)

In Adam’s and Eve’s case, although they disobeyed His commands and sinned against Him, He did not leave them in such situation to be destroyed rather He loved them and cared for them (Genesis 3:21). Ever since the Adam and Eve incident took place, all of humanity, including the chosen people of Israel, kept disobeying His commands and sinning against Him, yet He did not leave them to be lost forever.  Rather, He send His only begotten Son Jesus Christ to this world to save them from eternal condemnation, as Apostle John stated in the gospel he wrote: For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16). The primary purpose of Jesus’ coming to this world was to save mankind by laying down His very life on the cross of Calvary. Apostle Paul wrote that He gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father (Galatians 1:4). Despite all of humanity’s failures and our unfaithfulness, God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).

After demonstrating His love for us, God asks us to love Him with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our strength and with all our mind; and, love our neighbor as ourselves (Deuteronomy 6:5; Luke 10:27). The Scripture teaches us that God is love (1 John 4:8), God loves us (John 3:16; 1 John 4:9-10), and God deserves our love in return for He created us (Genesis 1:26-27; 2:7; Psalm 139:13-18). Many of the Old Testament and New Testament saints loved God faithfully and obeyed His commands. Moses testified from his personal experience that He is the Rock, His works are perfect, and all His ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is He (Deuteronomy 32:4). King David praised God saying: The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation. He is my stronghold, my refuge and my savior—from violent people you save me (2 Samuel 22:2-3). Apostle Paul wrote to the believers in Rome:

35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. 37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.

38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:35-39)

In this sense, when someone says that they love God, they must love God wholeheartedly, accept Him as the Lord and savior of their life, and obey His righteous laws and decrees in its entirety. Since God loves us and asked us to love Him, we must love Him with complete sincerity and obey His commands in its entirety. As part of our commitment to love God:

• • We must put God first in our lives (1 John 4:19)
  • We must believe God is sovereign (Genesis 1:1; Psalm 46:10; 86:8-10; Jeremiah 10:6; 32:17)
  • We must always honor, revere, and fear God (Proverbs 3:6; Matthew 6:33)
  • We must glorify God in everything we say or do (Romans 12:1; Matthew 5:1-7:29)
  • We must obey His commandments wholeheartedly (Psalm 1:2)
  • We must labor for the extension of God’s Kingdom on earth (1 Corinthians 9:19-23)
  • Above all else, our love for Him must be unconditional (Deuteronomy 7:9; Joshua 24:15)

As God asked us to love Him with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our strength and with all our mind, which stands as the first and greatest commandment (Luke 10:27a [Matthew 22:37-38]), He also asked us to love our neighbor as ourselves, which is the second greatest commandment (Luke 10:27b). During Jesus’ earthly ministry, He told His disciples that A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another (John 13:34-35). Jesus again said to His disciples that My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends (John 15:12-13). Jesus went to the extent of telling His disciples to love even their enemies: Love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked (Luke 6:35 [Mathew 5:44]). Jesus emphasized this love because He wanted to make sure that His disciples understood its importance. Apostle Peter urged the believers to love one another. He said: Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. (1 Peter 4:8). Apostle John, whom Jesus loved (John 13:23; 19:26; 20:2; 21:7, 20), wrote to the first century Christian believers and believers thereafter that

19 We love because he [God] first loved us. 20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. 21 And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister (1 John 4:19-21)

Apostle Paul wrote to the believers in Ephesus to Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God (Ephesians 5:1-2). Again, Apostle Paul wrote to the believers in Rome to

8 Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. 9 The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,” and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law (Romans 13:8-10; also refer to: 1 Corinthians 13:1-13)

What we can understand from these Scripture passages is that when someone says they love God and, at the same time, if they do not love their neighbor as themselves, it is only a partial love and such love is not complete. When we claim that we love others, we will treat them as we want to be treated. As it is mentioned in the gospels: So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets (Matthew 7:12; Luke 6:31). As we make a pledge to love God and love one another, we need to Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice (Ephesians 4:31), and we need to Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you (Ephesians 4:31-32), because the Scripture says that Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres (1 Corinthians 13:4-7).

In the light of our meditation on Luke 10:27, let us try to understand that we, as followers of Jesus Christ, are called to love the Lord our God with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our strength and with all our mind (Luke 10:27a) and love our neighbor as ourselves (Luke 10:27b). It is written in plain words and most of us can understand its meaning without any interpretation. However, since most of us look for easy ways to love God and love our neighbors without much effort, we need an interpretation understand it. Some of us feel it is easier to love the Lord our God who is unseen than loving a neighbor or brother or sister who is seen. In such a context, it is important to learn from what Jesus said: Love your enemies (Matthew 5:43-45; Luke 6:27-28 [for Joseph’s example, refer Genesis 50:20]); and from Apostle Paul who urged the believers in Thessalonica: May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you. May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones (1 Thessalonians 3:12-13 [Ephesians 4:32]). Humanly thinking, loving an enemy is the last option for many of us among the choices we have of loving ourselves, our dear and near ones, our spiritual sojourners and friends, our neighbors, and so on. What we need to understand here is that loving all of those we care about must begin with loving our enemies. Therefore, let us learn to love and let us begin to love. Let us love the Lord our God and let us love our neighbor as ourselves and let us love our enemies. At every step of the way, we must pray to our heavenly Father to give us the grace and ability to live a life of love.  May the Lord God Almighty bless us all! Amen!