Hey people! We are back with this week’s word (verse of the day from Monday on the Bible app) which was taken from Mathew 22:37. This article is coming a little later than I had planned; excuse my tardiness, Lagos is not letting me be great these days.
Matthew 22:37 came about because Jesus was asked a question by a Lawyer which said—“teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?
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You see Moses was presented with the 10 commandments to help guide the Israelites through their 40-year journey (and beyond). Moses was one man, who had his hands full with the children of God after their exodus from Egypt.
Now they were misbehaving; worshiping other gods, stealing, coveting, committing sexual immorality, and God said (in my head):
enough is enough! Now let me make things clear, just in case you didn’t know what sin was, here are a list of dos and donts for y’all if you want to continue on this journey with me.
Fast forward a couple of hundred years later, people were questioning Jesus’s leadership, authority and wisdom. They often wondered—“who be this small pikin wey wan teach us about the laws of the prophet?”
So they loved to throw questions at Him just to see if He was going to fumble and Christ took those jabs each time swinging it right back at them. The answer He gave the inquisitive lawyer was a cumulative one because if you loved God with everything that you were made off, it was going to be difficult to break the commandments that were given to the Israelites all those years ago.
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.”
Matthew 22:37
You might be wondering: why is it necessary for a person, a believer to love God with all that is within them?
When you love God, it becomes easier for you to love others: God is love; you cannot say you love God and then not love others. There are many ways we express our love to God, and one of them is by expressing it to others. When we love people, when we show up for them, when we help those who can’t help themselves (and not wait for ‘heaven’ to help them), when we are our brother’s keeper, then we are sending a message back to God that we love Him.
“If anyone says—I love God but hates his brother, he is a liar. For he who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, how can he God whom he has not seen?"
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1 John 4:20
When you love God with all that you are, you learn to despise the things He does: Think about it, if you are in a relationship with someone you absolutely adore, you wouldn’t want to do anything (intentionally) to hurt them. In fact, they begin to influence you. You develop a taste (or distaste) that can be likened to theirs. It’s the same way with God. Once you get into a relationship with Him, He influences you and puts his desires in you. You wouldn’t even know when certain things start breaking your heart or irritating you.
If you are in love with God, then you will want to do His will: Jesus was a big proponent of this. At all times He wanted to do the will of His Father even when it was difficult. He said He was about His Father’s business. When we immerse ourselves into doing the will of the Father, no matter how difficult, we satisfy and bring Him great pleasure.
It is no wonder He said this to John the Baptist about Christ—“this is my beloved son in whom I am well-pleased.”
As believers, when we love God with all our being, that opens us up into deeper intimacy with Him. He begins to reveal things to us that we never would have known. I am reminded of the story of Abraham and when God went to visit Him in the book of Genesis. Before God left, He said to the angels with him: “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?”
Wouldn’t you want to be in that kind of relationship with God, where He doesn’t make a move without your knowledge?
I know that’s the loving kind of relationship I want to be in.
So how would we express our love for God more this week? Join in on the conversation by either dropping a comment here or on all our social media platforms (connect with @eviidoghor). Also remember to like, share and subscribe, never to miss an update.
Don’t stop here; click this link to explore more on our Word of the Week page.
About The Author: Evi Idoghor is a Christian, writer, and content creator on Letstalknationblog.com. She is a chemical engineering graduate from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Consumed by her love for writing and desire to effect change, she launched her online platform––Let’s Talk Nation––to tap into her creativity and start meaningful conversations that would make a difference around the world.
Most of her writing has been influenced by her time spent in America, where she lived for about 11 years. Also, she lived in Nigeria and South Korea and currently loves traveling the world while learning about other fascinating cultures. You can find her on all social media platforms with @eviidoghor.