Courtney Gilmore Jesus answered, “The most important (commandment) is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is One. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all of your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.
Mark 12:29-31
When Jesus was asked to name the greatest commandment, His answer was to LOVE. The greatest command that the Lord ever gave us was to love Him and love our neighbors. As a matter of fact, He said that the ten commandments could be summarized into just these two.
Two instead of ten! That’s much easier right. Also, these two are in the affirmative whereas, most of the ten are negative directives. For me, it is much easier to do something than to deny myself something that I want to do. Jesus knew the commandments would be hard for us to obey, so He said, “Okay, see if this makes it easier for you. I’ll summarize them for you. Don’t focus on all the things you can’t do, instead focus on loving God and loving each other. By acting in love towards God and man, you will automatically follow the laws.
Love God Above All
You see, His commands were never meant to be a set of arbitrary or burdensome laws. They had a purpose that was for the collective good and were meant to bring us blessings. They were supposed to bring us into a good relationship with God and foster good relationships with each other. The commandments were a guide on how to love the Lord and each other.
Think about it. The first four commandments teach us how to love God. The first two commands to put nothing above Him, (no gods or no carved images) then to respect His name, and keep the Sabbath holy. Jesus said the greatest commandment was to recognize that God is the One and only God and to love Him with everything we have. By acknowledging that He is THE GOD, who is worthy of respect and worship, then we will trust and follow the rest of His commands.
Love Your Neighbor As Yourself
So, even though Jesus wasn’t asked, He also revealed the second greatest commandment. We should love our neighbor in the same way that we automatically love and take care of ourselves.
Just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise.
Luke 6:31
This is the summary of the last six commandments. When we are in charge of someone, we want their honor and respect. We want them to listen to us and do what we say. So, because God put our parents in charge of us, He wants us to honor, respect, and obey them.
Marriage is supposed to be a blessing to us. Our spouse is the one special person that we get to share our lives with. If they decided to break that trust and give to another what only belongs to us, we would be crushed. So, because we want our spouse to be faithful to us, we should be faithful to them.
We worked hard for our possessions and property and we want others to respect our belongings, so we don’t steal from other people. We don’t want others to tell lies about us and damage our reputation or get us into trouble with their lies, so we don’t do that to them either.
You see, we want others to be respectful and listen to us so we should do the same with them. We want others to be faithful, loyal, kind, & truthful, so we should treat them in the same way. We want others to respect our property and be happy for us when we’ve acquired something great, so we, too, need be satisfied with what we have and work for what we don’t, not being jealous of or taking things that belong to other people.
It’s About Relationship, Not Rules
By summarizing these ten commandments into two, Jesus was trying to tell us that it is not about the rules. They are just an explanation of how to love God and His created people. The laws weren’t meant to be burdensome or restrictive, nor were they intended to be ritualistic or rigid. They were supposed to teach us how to love, plain and simple.
If we are following all the rules, checking them off the list, thinking we are good, yet we hate God or His people in the process, then we aren’t being good people. We can honor our parents, be faithful to our spouses, be nonviolent, truthful, and respectful of people and property, yet still feel contempt for our family and friends. In that case, our actions are actually superficial and futile. By totally focusing on the letter of the law, we could lose the relationship.
What Are Your Intentions?
If we are apathetic towards our God, if we resent Him for taking away all our fun, or we have no relationship with Him because we see Him as an angry dictator, then all our obedience is in vain.
If we are trying to follow all the rules, focusing on ourselves and our shortcomings or accomplishments, instead of the Lord and His Holiness, then we are missing their intent. These laws are not attainable on our own and they aren’t about us or how well we follow them. They are about loving the Lord that loved us first and having a relationship with Him. They reveal our desire for the One that made us.
In this is love, not that we have loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
1 John 4:10-11
So, use the ten commandments as a guide, but focus on love. Learn more about God so you will have many, many reasons to love Him. Then think about how you want to be treated and treat other people the same.
This is an excerpt from Episode 112 “God’s Commands Are Not About Rules: They’re About Relationships” on Podcast and YouTube.
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