Commanded to Love

Rev 22:14 Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.


Jesus' commandments--


Mat 5:16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.


Mat 5:19 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.


Mat 5:22 But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.


Note- Raca- worthless one - vilification.


Mat 5:23 Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee;
Mat 5:24 Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.


Mat 5:25 Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison.


Mat 5:28 But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.


Mat 5:29 And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.


Mat 5:30 And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.


Mat 5:32 But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery.


Mat 5:34 But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God's throne:
Mat 5:35 Nor by the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King.
Mat 5:36 Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black.
Mat 5:37 But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil


To say that Jesus had no commands for us would be false. Jesus had a lot of commands that some like to call advice so that they can either choose to follow the advice or not without too much of a consequence. A command, an order, sounds so much more demanding doesn't it? To say you're given advice automatically leaves room to choose one way or another because it's just advice. Given a command is an order you must follow or there will be consquences. We don't like to have consequences based upon our actions. We like to have leeway. If we make a mistake we want someone there to say it was an honest mistake. If we don't take advice, well it was an honest mistake not to. Consequences. We live in a society that doesn't want any of those. We want mollification, we want to be coddled and reassured that we're good no matter what bad we might do. This isn't to say that there aren't those who truly make *honest* mistakes, but in truth many mistakes could be avoided if the advice was followed, right? Commands. Somehow that sounds better than Commandments. Commandments sounds so demanding and permanent, a command sounds a bit less rigid and something much more temporary. A command seems like it could be given once and commandments seem more like something meant to be followed endlessly.


Jesus gives us plenty of commandments to follow an ultimately they all revolve around two central commandments-


Love God.
Love Man.


Seriously. There isn't a single commandment from Jesus that doesn't revolve either around loving God or loving our fellow man. There's no wonder about that really though is there? Because God is...LOVE. We're the ones that have warped love into something almost unthinkable unless it's total SELF love which even then isn't really love because selfishness isn't loving yourself. You actually love yourself more when you love God and others. Selfishness, self-love in that respect is the fartherest thing from real love as you can get.


May God grant us the wisdom and understanding to realize that all that He asks of us is out of love, not to restrict us from things that are good for us. May the love of God be realized in us through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, by His grace and mercy towards us sinners who while striving to do all that He asks, realizes it's only through Him that any of it really matters.

Amen.