SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/7/2023 9:09 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-3 “The Response of the Lord”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew
22:37-40
Message of the verses: “37 Jesus answered
him, "’Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all
thy soul, and with all thy mind.’ 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39
And there is a second like it: ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.’ 40 The
whole of the Law and the Prophets depends on these two commandments’”
(Philips).”
We continue looking at the response that the Lord
gives to this lawyer. It is the opinion
of John MacArthur “that the transforming new creation that takes place at
salvation produces a new will, desire, and attitude deep within the person that
can best be described as love for God.
John Makes love for God the true mark of the believer (see John
14:23-24; 1 John 2:5; 3:17; 4:12-13, 16-21).
Peter declares that God is precious to those who believe (1 Pet. 2:7),
pointing to the same truth that love for God and Christ characterize a true
Christian.”
Let
us look at some Scriptures from the Old Testament that speak of love and the
first one comes from Exodus 20:6, which is a part of the Ten Commandments. “But showing lovingkindness to thousands, to
those who love Me and keep My commandments.”
Deuteronomy 7:9 “"Know therefore that the LORD your God, He is God,
the faithful God, who keeps His covenant and His lovingkindness to a thousandth
generation with those who love Him and keep His commandments.” Nehemiah 1:5 “I said, "I beseech You, O
LORD God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who preserves the covenant and
lovingkindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments.” Let us now look at what the Lord said in John
14:15 “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” The apostle John, who speaks a lot about love
says the following in 1 John2:3-5 “3 By this we know that we have come to know
Him, if we keep His commandments. 4 The one who says, "I have come to know
Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not
in him; 5 but whoever keeps His word, in
him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in
Him.” How does a person who belongs to
the Lord show that he loves God? By
keeping His commandments, and as we look at what some of the Jewish leaders did
we can see that they were keeping the Law, or so they thought, on their own
power, and this just does not work. One
of the most beautiful descriptions of a Christian is one who loves “our Lord
Jesus Christ with a love incorruptible” as seen in Ephesians 6:24. In 1 Corinthians 16:22 we can see one of the
most sobering descriptions of an unbeliever is “anyone [who] does not love the
Lord.”
True love of God declares with Paul “For that which
I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to
do, but I am doing the very thing I hate.”
What is Paul really saying here, well in essence he was saying that,
even though he did not always do what was right, and I think we can all relate
to that, he always loved what was right and longed to do what was honoring to
God. That was the opposite attitude of
the Scribes and the Pharisees, whom Jesus repeatedly condemned for making great
pretense of love for God on the outside however on the inside there was no love
for God, and because the Lord knows all hearts this surely was true what He has
said to the Pharisees along with the scribes.
These men were only interested only in the outward religious ceremonies
and actions that fed their self-righteousness, self-satisfaction, and
hypocrisy. These were the men who
recited the Shema on a regular basis, the verbal declaration of love for God
was hollow and it was meaningless.
I
will conclude this SD with a short quote from MacArthur’s commentary: “Just as
belonging to God is loving God, not belonging to Him is hating Him (Ex.
20:5). God’s people are those who love
Him, and the unsaved are those who hate Him and are His adversaries (Deut.
32:41; Prov. 8:36).” I think that it is best if I quote these
verses in the order that they are in this quotation from MacArthur’s
commentary.
EX. 20:5 “You shall not worship them or serve them; for I,
the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on
the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me.
Deut. 32:41 “If I sharpen My flashing sword, And My hand
takes hold on justice, I will render vengeance on My adversaries, And I will
repay those who hate Me.
Prov. 8:36 “"But he who sins against me injures
himself; All those who hate me love death.’”
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: Loving God with all my heart, soul, and mind
is probably the most important thing that I can do.
My Steps of Faith for Today: To remember that loving God is to keep His
commandments, and to do that I must rely on the Holy Spirit to
accomplishment.
9/7/2023 9:48 AM
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