Inquisitive Minds Want To Know

In my first blog, inquisitor104 commented, "That's an interesting way of simplifying it all-- our success in life can be measured by the progress we're making in our relationships with God, his people, and those whom he seeks. To get a better handle on this, I'm curious to know how you came to this conclusion. How has the Lord been guiding your thinking?"

Very inquisitive question 104... Thanks for asking!

I came to my conclusion through the Holy Spirit's leading via Jesus' Great Commandment found in both Mark 12:28-34 and Matthew 22:34-40. Jesus was asked in both instances to identify the greatest and most important commandment. Jesus replied, the greatest commandment is to "Love the Lord your God," and the second, which is like it, is to "Love your neighbor as yourself."

The very essence of love revolves around relationship, particularly the relationship that the Trinity (God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit) has with Himself. This thought is represented in the Mark passage, when Jesus qoutes Deuteronomy 6:4, "Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one" to begin His answer. Out of this relationship that God has with Himself, he lovingly relates with those who are His and with those whom He desires to be His.

So in order to understand these three primary relationships, how does 'loving one's neighbor' delineate into two distinct groups (those who are His and those whom He desires to be His)? In John 13:34-35, Jesus makes this distinction when He gives His disciples a new command: "Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples if you love one another." 'Loving one another' is relating in love with those who are His, so that those whom God desires to be His can come to know Him as well. In Matthew 28:18-20, the Great Commission, we once again see the Trinity mentioned and how He relates to these two distinct groups as He calls us to make disciples. I will go into more depth in the blogs to come, but it became very clear to me that these three relationships are the most important relationships based on the Great Commandment and these correlating passages. We have a vertical primary love relationship with God Himself. And out of this relationship flows two primary horizontal relationships with our neighbors; relationship #1 being with His people ('one another') and #2 being with those He seeks to save ('so they may know').

This begs the question, what is love? To truly "love" someone is to have a deep affection for them which ultimately results in seeking their highest good. Here, Jesus is calling us to love God by modeling and reflecting God's love for us. In other words, we love because He first loved us. And when we love our neighbors well, this is part of how we love Him. We love Him and reflect His very character when we love one another, and we reflect his love for the lost when we share in relationship (community) the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ with those whom God desires to be His with our words and our deeds.

Therefore, our success in life is based on our balance and intentionality in these three relationships.

Thanks for the inquiry,

Craig H