How do you or I know if we love God in the ways and to the depth that He commands of us? So many give it no thought at all and it is what Jesus said is the greatest commandment. (Read † Mark 12:28)

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We might think we love God, and tell Him that we do, but how do we know it is true of us? And is it the same intense love that we are also enjoined to have for our neighbor, our spouse and children, our Christian brother and sister, and so forth? We will address this also in these discussions.

On This Issue One Might Also Wonder On this issue one might also wonder this within themselves: “How can someone command another to love them and with such a sold-out passion?” The answer for believers that will receive it is this: It may be a command to love God and others that we find peculiar but it is the lever and pry point that enables us to move away from our sin problem, if we will think it through, understand it and seek it. The ancient Greek mathematician Archimedes said this, “Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world.” [The audio includes a helpful example of a lever and fulcrum.] As a people that hear the Gospel, believe it in our hearts, and confess faith in Jesus with our mouth, we then face two new challenges for our remaining days upon the earth. On the one hand we must stop sinning, and on the other hand we must willingly learn of, embrace and practice the ways of God, both His commands of born-again ones. Now these two things are like a very-heavy-object that we need to move; on our own we can push and shove and grunt and sweat trying to get a formidable object at least to budge a little here and there but with a long enough lever and a solid pivot point to work the lever on, we can more easily get sin out of our way and begin walk in all the ways of our holy God and with joy at our successful obedience and the reward of it. HEAR THIS TODAY Hear this today: The lever and fulcrum which helps us move sin in our lives out of the way and to walk in the ways of God is love for God and for others. His command to do so and deeply is to give us the tool to accomplish other things we must do as Christians.

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† Matthew 22:36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law? 37 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. 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

† 1 John 5:3 For this is the love of [for] God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous (heavy, burdensome).

† Matthew 11:28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

† Matthew 7:12 Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets. 13 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: 14 Because strait (Gr. stenos: narrow from obstacles standing close about ; [histemi, which means “the cross” or “to crucify”]) is the gate, and narrow (to crowd, afflict, afflict tribulation, trouble) is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

Christians Today Are Missing The Mark I believe that a majority of Christians today are missing the mark on the highest commands of God recorded in both testaments about loving God and loving others.

Therefore, we will be looking at this and discussing some answers to this main question: When does our love meet God’s standard toward Him and toward our neighbor?

Beside the definitions that Paul gives us at († 1 Corinthians 13), are there other signs that we love God to the height of love He calls us to, and do we also walk in love toward our neighbor as we are commanded to?

Love—in the English language, at least in our country, the word “love” is used in ways that perhaps a foreigner would be confused by. We say things like these: I love my car (my dog, my house, job, rainy days, your shoes, weekends, my wife or husband, my children).

We actually do the same sort of thing with the word “hate”; we might say: I hate my job, mowing the yard, having to get up early on the weekends, heavy metal music, my boss or neighbor, and so forth.

Hate is such a strong word! Hate is such a strong word! When it is used without any thought it usually means that we do not favor or we dislike someone or some thing and do not really hate it or them, if the truth is known.

Hate: An intense feeling or dislike, or extreme aversion towards someone or some thing, often accompanied by hostility or anger. Hate can arise from the result of an injury, fear, someone else’s hostility. Other words that convey a serious issue with someone or thing are to detest, loathe, abhor, despise, distain, and expressions in involving malevolence.

Now just for a couple minutes, I need to make the point that for a Christian to hate someone is wrong and is something that must be rooted out of our souls. Hate Is A Very Powerful Emotion Hate is a very powerful emotion that sours a person’s mind and heart toward another to such a degree that at the very least, he or she (honestly?) hopes for really bad things (maybe even death) for that person (the opposite of † Matt. 7:12). And for some, if they could somehow secretly get away with it, they would do it themselves; this is malice (to cause pain, injury, or distress to another [emotional, physical, career, financial]). A feeling of hate toward another or others as a group is not the way of the Lord. And, frankly, the Apostle John makes it clear that hate and murder look the same in the eyes of God and our Savior, Jesus Christ. Please take note of what John wrote here, either for yourself or for someone that you know that harbors hate in their hearts:

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† 1 John 3:14 We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death. 15 Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.

† Titus 3:3 For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another.

† Ephesians 4:31 Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: 32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.

Jesus "Did Not" Hate Jesus did not hate, not even while He was being mocked and made fun of, beaten almost to death, and nailed to the cross for our sins.

We cannot hate, and to rid ourselves of it there must come repentance before God and forgiveness toward the offender.

Stephen did not hate while he was being stoned to death, nor did Paul as he was beheaded by the Romans—these both died loving their executioners.

How is that possible? It is by the Savior’s love through us.

Love: A strong feeling of affection, strong attraction, emotional attraction and even attachment towards someone or some thing, often characterized by deep emotional connections and care. Love leads to feelings of kinship or personal ties or close friendships. It can manifest in various forms, including romantic love, familial love, and friendship.

We Use “Love” In Many Places We use “love” in many places where other words are more appropriate, such as “I like, or appreciate, or am glad for, or very fond of”. It really depends on what (or who) we are referring to as to whether we would really use the word “love” and not some different word or phrase that is better to use. The Greeks were aware of this and had several different words for love with each one having their own context about their feelings case-by-case, rather than how we use the word love. From the Greek, such as was our Holy Bible’s New Testament written in, the words for their feelings about people or things are these: Agape (unconditional love), eros (romantic love), philia (friendship), storge (familial love), philautia (self love), and xenia (ritualized friendship). In these discussions, we will look at the word “love” as it is used in both testaments and as compared with these Greek words while we investigate the question before us, which is how, as a requirement of God, [how] do we know that we are walking in real love toward God and our neighbor; is it real and is it enough? Here is one example of two of these Greek words used in John’s Gospel:

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† John 21:15 So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest (agapao: unconditional love) thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love (phileo: as a friend, fond of) thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs. 16 He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest (agapao) thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love (phileo) thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep. 17 He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest (phileo) thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love (phileo) thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep.

Our study will include some of these concepts of love in the context of their use in our KJV Holy Bibles, which will be helpful in our coming to understand what God commands of us in realistic, understandable and actionable terms. We will begin with the general command of God about loving Him and eventually to what height, and later move onto loving our neighbor as ourselves.

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† Mark 12:29 And Jesus [said], The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: 30 And thou shalt love (agapao: much love or to breath after, dote on) the Lord thy God with all thy heart (Dt. † 6, 10, 11, 19, 30), and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. 31 And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself († Lev. 19:18, 34). There is none other commandment greater than these.

We Are Seeking To Understand I remind you that we are seeking to understand how God defines that our love for Him is to be, and to discuss some of the evidences that our lives will reflect if we are living within His definitions.

And just what are the definitions we are to understand and monitor in our personal lives as to our love for God? I am to love Him with all my heart, soul, mind and strength. The word “all” is a word meaning “whole, complete, every wit”; the word “all” declares the extent of how much of my heart, soul, mind and strength I am to love God. In part two we will discuss how you and I can measure that.

I am and you are to love God with all your and my “heart”. The Greek word for heart is “kardia” with its obvious and physical meaning of the heart located in the middle of your body which pumps the life-blood of the body to all parts of the body (“the life of the body is in the blood” † Lev. 17:11).

However, the definition of the Greek word “kardia” also includes that we love God from the heart of our thoughts and feelings as the activities of our mind.

The next word used is to love God with all our “soul”, which is from the Greek word “psyche” generally understood by those that are language experts as a word that refers to our minds, emotions, and will.

We are to love God with all the aspects of our soul, and from recent discussions you may remember that the soul belongs to your spirit and at death goes where your spirit goes—into eternal life in the Presence of God or is appointed to eternal separation from God and never-ending torment.

The Third Word Used Is The Word “Mind” The third word used is the word “mind” from the Greek “dianoia” meaning from the faculty of the mind including the exercise of deep thought and understanding, imagination, and the resulting disposition (what we do with our mind’s conclusion).

And the last word in the context of how we are to love God is a word that is used in the New Testament is the word “strength” translated to English from “ischys” meaning forcefulness, ability, power, (and notice) “might”.

This word “strength” seems to be a reflection of the Hebrew word used at († Deuteronomy 6) that has to do with a person’s power and ability to focus their thoughts on what God says and His righteous ways—especially true for New Testament Christians as we choose to have our minds renewed as the Holy Scriptures command.

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† Deuteronomy 6:4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: 5 And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might (Heb. meod: do this—love God vehemently, wholly, utterly, understood to be like a poker raking together the hot coals of a needed fire).

The Connection About Loving God If you haven’t noticed the connection about loving God with all your heart, soul, and mind, these words all have one thing in common in their slightly different definitions—and that is that in some way each involves your mind. Your mind is to be in control of your thoughts, plans and intentions, your words, and what you do or do not do. As you heard in previous lessons regarding how the fallen nature works, which is this: Your emotions (what you want, usually with a passion) try to convince your mind that you need this or that so as to justify moving upon your “will” (willingness) to carry it out; this is especially bad when sin is involved. As born-again ones from above, our “minds” have a preemptive responsibility to observe, learn, question, evaluate, test, and decide on the issues of life as touching God’s will, and then have our “will” act on or refrain from acting on things that are the results that the intellect has arrived at, and then invites the “emotions” to express the appropriate response to right actions. What Did Paul Write About This?

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† Romans 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. 3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.

† Ephesians 4:22 That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; 23 And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; 24 And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. (See also † Tit. 3:5, Col.3:10)

The bottom line for today is this: Get your mind under control if you sincerely desire to love God as He asks of us. And to get your mind under control requires that it be renewed to its very core by the Word of God and the help of the Holy Spirit. Do check back here next week for more on God’s Standard Regarding Love.

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~ Brother Scott ... With ... The Right Word^© ... For Today~

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