Love Is

" Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength." Deuteronomy 6:5

"And now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul" Deuteronomy 10:12

Reading Deuteronomy is always the most taxing one for me to read when I am doing a Bible read-thru. There's a reason I read Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and then move on to the New Testament for a while. Then I take the time to sit and read some of Deuteronomy, and every time I find all sorts of great stuff in there, and I wonder why I avoided it in the first place! The essence of Deuteronomy is that God is faithful and powerful- what couldn't be great about that! It also talks a lot about obeying God and following his commands, and that is also important.

Something that struck me today as I read the verse above is that love is a command. It is a direct order from God to love others. That ultimately makes love a choice. It is our choice whether or not we choose to follow God's commands. It is our choice whether or not we are going to follow his direct order and love each other.

"My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you." John 15:12

Notice, it doesn't say anything about romantic love here. I'm not talking about the love between husband and wife or boyfriend and girlfriend. I'm talking about God's love- Agape Love. Agape love is from the head, it is a love that we have made a conscious choice to place into being. It is the self-sacrificing love that we display when we show our genuine concern for those around us. It is the love we show when we serve others- the love demonstrated by God for us in the Bible.

Love is a command and a decision. Will we choose to love? Will we choose to follow God's command and love? We can say we love God with all our heart, but until we follow His commands and share His love with those around us, we are not being truthful. The heart of God's love is all about service and sharing His love with others.

"He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me." John 14:24

"Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him." John 14:21