In the Old Testament God gave us 613 commandments, the most famous of those are the Ten Commandments. Somebody asked Jesus, “Which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” (Matthew 22:36) to which Jesus replied, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” (Matthew 22:37–39)
Thus Jesus teaches all of God’s commandments are summed up by the command to love God and our neighbor. But what is love? When I think of what it means to love I was reminded of the quote from Andre Maurois,
“We owe to the Middle Ages the two worst inventions of humanity, romantic love and gunpowder.” (Andre Maurois)
To Maurois, gunpowder and romantic love are equal in their negative effect on humanity. When we consider how love is defined in our society (listen to how songs on the radio depict love) which is basically a love defined in terms of romance and the feelings given, but without commitment and sacrifice there is some truth to Maurois’ assertion.
Martin Luther once said, “Love is an image of God”. There is no better definition and no greater example of true love. The disciple John writes of true love, “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” (1 John 4:10) Then John shares, “We love because he first loved us.” (1 John 4:19)
Thus, true love (God’s love) is the love we can give to each other as we love our neighbor as ourselves but is a committed and sacrificial love like God’s love given to us.
Jesus spoke of how this committed and sacrificial love is shown. Jesus shockingly teaches us:
“But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.” (Matthew 5:39–42)
There is no romantic love in these verses. Jesus is teaching us how Christian love is a giving love that sacrifices many things that may be rightfully ours to claim. Offering the other cheek … after taking our tunic giving up our cloak … being forced to go a mile, offering to go another mile … not turning away from someone wanting to borrow. It seems like a lot to expect.
I remember reading Hudson Taylor the great missionary to China. As Taylor gave witness of Jesus to the Chinese people, he found them to be polite but not exactly receptive to the Gospel. Hudson learned the Chinese people saw God as the God of the West – a foreign God who was not interested in them. So Hudson decided to give up his Western ways and live like the Chinese people. He dressed like the Chinese, gave up his apartment to live in the huts of the countryside. He lived, dressed, ate just like the Chinese people so they could identify with them and the Christ he was proclaiming. In other words, Hudson Taylor loved the people of China in going the extra mile, giving up whatever he needed to give up for the sake of pointing them to Christ. There was no romance in Taylor’s love, but simply the desire to serve and love his Savior which led to a sacrificial and committed love.
This sacrificial and committed love can be ours when our motivation to love our neighbor comes from Jesus — “We love because he first loved us.”
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