8.40 Today, we love because He first loved us
Under the Old Covenant, the law demanded for righteousness and love - from us. Under the New Covenant of grace, Jesus supplied righteousness and love – to us and through us.
In the Old Covenant, the greatest commandment of the law DEMANDED that we love God with all our heart, all our soul and all our strength (Deut 6:5). The second greatest commandment of the law DEMANDED that we love our neighbor as ourselves (Lev 19:18). No one under the Old Covenant fulfilled those demands on their own strength. Those laws were given to show man’s failure. God knew man could not fulfill them.
What was the verdict? Not only did Israel fail to love their God, they ended up brutally killing the son of God. Not only did Israel fail to love their neighbor, they martyred their brethren Stephen. As spiritual bankrupts, none of us could fulfill the law.
Then God said to mankind, “Move aside and let me show you what love is really about.” So God sent forth His own Son into the world to demonstrate His own love towards us – in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Rom 5:8).
Jesus fulfilled those commandments of love on our behalf. He also gave us His love, and He came to live in us. The New Covenant is really not about our love for God, but His love for us. I want you to see the contrast between Deut 6:5 with the following verse:
(1 John 4:10)
In this is love, NOT THAT WE LOVED GOD, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
It is not that we loved God; not that we fulfilled the commandment of Deut 6:5 to love God. It is about His love for us. In the New Covenant, we can truly love God because we have first received His love. Our ability to love is dependent on how much we have received and experienced God’s love.
(1 John 4:19)
We love BECAUSE He FIRST LOVED us.
Today, in the dispensation of grace, we no longer focus on our ability to love God. Many people are still trying to love God the Old Covenant way, through self-effort in keeping Deut 6:5 and they fail.
Rom 5:5 says that the love of God has been poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit. In the New Covenant, when we focus on God’s love for us and God’s love in us, we will find our love for God growing as a response. If we have a problem with loving God or others, the real problem is a lack of revelation of His love for us. Stop trying to love; start resting in His infinite love, and start letting Him love through you.
In the Old Covenant, the greatest commandment of the law DEMANDED that we love God with all our heart, all our soul and all our strength (Deut 6:5). The second greatest commandment of the law DEMANDED that we love our neighbor as ourselves (Lev 19:18). No one under the Old Covenant fulfilled those demands on their own strength. Those laws were given to show man’s failure. God knew man could not fulfill them.
What was the verdict? Not only did Israel fail to love their God, they ended up brutally killing the son of God. Not only did Israel fail to love their neighbor, they martyred their brethren Stephen. As spiritual bankrupts, none of us could fulfill the law.
Then God said to mankind, “Move aside and let me show you what love is really about.” So God sent forth His own Son into the world to demonstrate His own love towards us – in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Rom 5:8).
Jesus fulfilled those commandments of love on our behalf. He also gave us His love, and He came to live in us. The New Covenant is really not about our love for God, but His love for us. I want you to see the contrast between Deut 6:5 with the following verse:
(1 John 4:10)
In this is love, NOT THAT WE LOVED GOD, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
It is not that we loved God; not that we fulfilled the commandment of Deut 6:5 to love God. It is about His love for us. In the New Covenant, we can truly love God because we have first received His love. Our ability to love is dependent on how much we have received and experienced God’s love.
(1 John 4:19)
We love BECAUSE He FIRST LOVED us.
Today, in the dispensation of grace, we no longer focus on our ability to love God. Many people are still trying to love God the Old Covenant way, through self-effort in keeping Deut 6:5 and they fail.
Rom 5:5 says that the love of God has been poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit. In the New Covenant, when we focus on God’s love for us and God’s love in us, we will find our love for God growing as a response. If we have a problem with loving God or others, the real problem is a lack of revelation of His love for us. Stop trying to love; start resting in His infinite love, and start letting Him love through you.
posted by Joshua Lye @ 11:11 PM
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