And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets." – Matthew 22:35-40
If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. -- John 15:7
And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him. – 1 John 5:14-15
Saint Augustine said, “Love God, and then do what you please.” This has long struck me as a sort of Catch-22 since love, as best I can define it, seeks to please the object of love. For example, I am simply happy to be in the presence of my grandchildren, to see them filled with joy even when it costs me aches and pains, time and money. In a perfectly balanced love relationship, each party would try to ensure that the other was happier in order to derive his or her own happiness, which brings to mind, immediately, O. Henry’s famous story.
If we are not careful, we may find ourselves thinking that, if God wants us to be happy, we might please Him by pleasing ourselves. This would be akin to a married person thinking that if the spouse’s foremost desire is the happiness of the beloved then, if the beloved desires to engage another person, the spouse would be happy. In truth, I know that my wife would be very unhappy if I cheated on her, especially at the funeral. What actions like adultery say is that the one does not find full pleasure in the pleasure of the other.
Over and over in the Bible, God assures us that we will find our joy in Him and Him alone. Everything else, every pleasure, every success, every achievement in life can derive its meaning and fulfillment only from Him and our love for Him. When Jesus said that we cannot serve both God and mammon, He did not say that we would not have to work for a living, that we could get by without money, or that we should all go off and live as hermits. There are some who are called to a life of solitary prayer, but the vast majority of us are called to live for and to love God in the midst of a contrary and often hostile system. I have gotten through many difficult days by offering the pressures and stresses to the Lord, saying I do not work for the supervisor, the manager, the CEO, or the company but for Jesus. And, of course, some days I have forgotten and suffered needlessly for it.
Somehow I must know that what I go through in life and, more importantly, how I go through the trials of life will bring honor and glory to the God that I love. No man or woman will sacrifice their lives, labor long hours, and endure deprivation and hardship for nothing, but all will do just that and more for someone or even something that they love. Every day men and women lay down their lives for a country they love or a cause to which they are devoted. Parents sacrifice present pleasures and future dreams that their children might have better opportunities in life.
Ultimately, an old saying gets close to the truth, “Love is not a feeling; it’s an act of the will.” If I find, as I sometimes do, that the joy has gone from my life, that I am struggling and suffering in what seems to be a pointless existence then perhaps I need to stop where I am and renew my love to God, to find what it is in my life that pleases Him, and to pursue it even sacrificially. For when God rejoices in me, I will rejoice.
But we all with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into that same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
4 comments:
While I am saddened by the tragic loss of a life, I cannot help thinking Mr. Vaughan, being Irish, would have chuckled at the headline:
Cork man drowned while walking his dog.
Mr Vaughan was found floating in the river Lee ... .
"When Jesus said that we cannot serve both God and mammon, He did not say that we would not have to work for a living, that we could get by without money, or that we should all go off and live as hermits."
"Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today."
Matthew 6
Yes. And of all the things that I fail in, worrying about tomorrow is at or very near the top of the list. I don't say that flippantly but repentantly. I do it, and I fight it, and I do it again.
Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.
Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. (Romans 13:7-8)
This is the thing, though, I do owe people my best efforts. I owe it to the people for whom I work. I owe it to a couple of generations of my family who taught me that to labor diligently is honorable. I owe it to the people who know I am a Christian that they might think that Christians are hard-working, honest, and dependable people, who will go the extra mile even when it is not strictly necessary, even when there is no money in it.
I have met people who thought that the world (not God) owed them a living because they were Christians or especially because they were ministers.
Paul goes on to say in verse 10, "Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law."
Sometimes it is hard to be certain of my motives. Am I doing what I do because I am fearful of the future, because I am greedy, or because I truly desire my life to glory to God? Am I working so that I might have something to share with others who are in need? Or is it my need I am most concerned about?
"Yes. And of all the things that I fail in, worrying about tomorrow is at or very near the top of the list. I don't say that flippantly but repentantly. I do it, and I fight it, and I do it again."
I'm telling you, we were separated at birth.
Brother.
I'm 99.99% certain, Matthew 6 is not a commandment in the way the word is commonly understood but one of those Divine-human pleas Tomberg talks about. Just as the Sabbath is a gift to all men. I mean, each man.
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