"You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment." (Matt 22:37-39 NLT)
Faith - in and of itself - is useless unless it is energized by God's love. This love command is the foundation of the Christian walk. The reason God wants Christians to love Him with all their heart, soul, and mind is that is how He loves them! (Matt 22:37-40)
God's very essence is love (See 1 John 4:7-10). He has always been love, even before He created man and women. He has always sought to have a close relationship with His children. Human Beings were made for this love. Their entire story is wrapped up within it. Love is the energy of life and is why humans were created. Love is their eternal destiny.
Christianity is the only religion that sets forth the Creator of the Universe as Love. All of creation resounds with the proof that God is love. Within Him is found all the fullness of excellence, beauty, and perfection. He is the author of all that is good in creation. This truth is taught throughout the Bible, beginning with Adam in the Garden of Eden.
When God created Adam, He said to him, "I will make a partner suitable to you" (Gen 2:18). God was declaring the hidden purpose of His heart from eternity past. The Holy Spirit reveals that the mystery of the ages is that this promise ultimately speaks of Jesus and the Church (See Eph. 5:25-6:1).
God proved He is love by choosing to walk among humanity and die in their place (See John 3:16). He now reaches out His arms in tender affection with nail-pierced hands most purely and intimately.
The very nature and essence of love require that it must grow in a willing heart. Sadly, many are not yet able to experience the fundamental reality that God loves and enjoys them. There are even those who would argue that God could not possibly be in love with them.
What a person believes about God is the most important thing contained in their mind. It affects everything about them. For too many people, God seems remote, impersonal, and unknowable. Because of that, many suffer from an inability to feel forgiven, nagged by doubt and mistrust of Him. A dysfunctional picture of God results in a dysfunctional way of praying. Jesus revealed this truth when He asked;
"Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him" (Luke 11:11-13).
Those that had an earthly father who was never around when they needed him, or has experienced trauma, abuse, or extreme discipline, will have a challenging time pursuing an intimate relationship with the heavenly Father.
Love Defined
The Bible speaks of two types of love in the Greek language - "Agape" and "Phileo." "Agape" has been defined as a self-sacrificial love committed to the highest good. It is love that is not dependent on the emotions. Without this love, no one could be saved. Through "agape" love, God set aside His wrath against mankind and poured it out on the Beloved Son.
"Phileo" love is best defined as tender affection, love from the emotions in a person's soul. It is that kind of love that responds to love from another. It is the love of true friends, the love of a child for his parents or another child, love between a husband and wife.
"Phileo" love can be casual or intense. It can't be relegated to just human emotion. Jesus used this word in describing the Father's love for Him (John 5:20). "Phileo" is also used in describing the Father's feelings toward all the Son's disciples (John 16:27).
The Bridegroom King
The Bible unveils the ultimate purpose of creating mankind at the very end. It reveals the day when the Bride of Christ meets her heavenly Bridegroom, and the marriage covenant is celebrated.
"Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready." (Rev 19:7 NIV)
Some say that the Bride of Christ is the universal Church and not each individual member of the Church. However, there can be no difference in God's love, even if there was only one person left on the planet. This is the most profound mystery of God's love! The King of the Universe, the Beautiful God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; the supreme Lord of all creation is so passionately in love with every individual person on this planet that the Bible describes it as the love of a groom for his bride! His heart is full of deep affection for every Christian, for He takes great "delight" in them "as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride" (Isa 62:4-5 NIV).
The Bible teaches that God's heart is ravished with enjoyment and delight over His people and that He pursues every Believer with a personal and relentless, infinite love. God is not some mystical, nebulous force whose love is only focused on vast populations. He is passionate about each individual person.
John the Baptist introduced himself and his personal ministry in context to the Bridegroom King (See John. 3:29). Jesus was the first to introduce this truth to the Church in His last sermon before the Cross (See Matt. 22:1-13). The Apostle John points to the prominence of this truth in the generation the Lord returns (See Rev. 22:17, Hos. 2:16). The Bible clearly reveals how important to God the Bride-Bridegroom relationship is (See 2 Cor. 11:2; Rev. 19:7-9; 21:9; Isa. 54:5; 61:10; Jer. 31:32).
The teaching of Jesus as the Bridegroom King is based primarily on a metaphorical view of the Song of Solomon as a breathtaking and beautiful story of divine love when the prophetic nature of its words is illuminated. It was said by scholarly rabbis that all the Scriptures are holy, but the Song of Songs is the Holy of Holies. They symbolically saw God's people married to the Lord (See Isa. 54:5 and Jer. 31:32).
On the surface, this book is just a love song written by King Solomon to a young woman. However, if that were its only meaning, there would have been no need for the Holy Spirit to put it into the Bible. This marriage Song of songs is written in the language of romantic bridal love:
"You have ravished my heart, My sister, my spouse; You have ravished my heart. With one look of your eyes, With one link of your necklace. How fair is your love, My sister, my spouse! How much better than wine is your love And the scent of your perfumes than all spices!" (Song 4:9-10 NKJV)
The Passion Of Christ
Human words cannot express the love God has for every person. He is PASSIONATE about every Christian and who they are in Christ. He is passionate about what they do, and their marriage, and family, and each of their friends and loved ones. He is passionate about seeing every Christian grow closer to Him and to know Him more so that they can be more like Him. Yet, His love is in a realm that transcends all human comprehension and understanding. Attempts at explaining this passion with expressions such as lovesick, desperate, hopeless, romantic, ravished, head-over-heals, etc., are infinitely inadequate to describe His magnificent love.
When a person receives Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior, He awakens the passion of His love within and then asks them to begin a journey of holy desire for more of Him on an uncertain path and destination. As the Christian willingly begins this journey, they will ultimately come to the point of no return - which is the place of self-abandonment - where no sacrifice is too great or any possession held in higher importance than the fiery flame of God's all-consuming affection. It is there that His love is sealed upon their heart (See Song Sol. 8:6,7). The Christian can then join with the Psalmist in understanding and declare:
"Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is none on the earth that I desire besides You. My flesh and my heart fail; but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever." (Ps. 73:25-26)
There are some who have distorted the holiness of God's passion and have made the teaching of the Bridegroom relationship into a kind of carnal sensuality and mystical experience that has wreaked havoc within many churches and the lives of young and immature Believers. This convoluted teaching has caused many to want absolutely nothing to do with it because, to them, it is heresy. That has caused a "throw out the baby with the bathwater" mentality in the arguments of those who stand opposed to it.
I began my personal experience with Jesus as the Bridegroom King when I was a teenager. Over the decades since then, I have seen far more people positively transformed than harmed as they come to understand the pure and passionate way God thinks and feels about them, especially in their weakness. God has placed within men and women the need for holy love. The simple truth is that God looks upon every Christian with loving affection.
I have come to see that the revelation of His love and enjoyment for every individual is vitally important for emotional and spiritual health, whether they be male or female. It may be hard for some men to accept Jesus as the Bridegroom King on a personal basis, but that does not negate the truth that God's infinite and majestic love is directed personally towards them.
The amazing truth is that every Christian is a love gift given by the Father to the Son and will always be the object of Jesus' prayers! (See John 17) This is one of the greatest mysteries of God. Jesus sees each individual Believer as personally belonging to Him forever. They are the dowry of the Bridegroom King! Nothing can separate them from His love. It is not because they believed on Jesus but because the Father has given them to Him!
"My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand." (John 10:29 NIV)
In His prayer of intercession, Jesus thanks the Father seven times for giving them to Him. Every Believer belongs to the Father and to the Son because God is not mad – He is madly in love!
An Impossible Task?
It is not an unreasonable command to love God. His love is the only kind of love that the human heart was made for. The love of God is the strongest force in the universe because it emanates directly from His heart. It is far more than youthful enthusiasm or the emotional affection and passion of human love. It is deeper and more influential than any human emotion. It is what set the entire universe into motion and sent Jesus to die on the Cross.
When a person comes to see Jesus for who He really is - LOVE incarnate - they can truly understand their ultimate destiny and "rely on the love God has for us," because "God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him" (1 John 4:16 NIV).
Understanding that God is love will open up the heart to accept God's invitation to engage in a love relationship built on the foundation of trust. There is no safe hiding place outside of His all-consuming burning love. The only real safety in this world for the Christian is to be consumed by the love of God.
The Christian can do nothing to gain His affection. Obedience alone will not produce love in the human heart - nor can it excite love. It is the affectionate kindness and goodness of God that produces and calls forth the supreme love from the heart that He desires. His love can become deeply rooted and interwoven within the mind and emotions of the Believer.
Loving God is not an impossible task. This love commanded by God is really not that different from that which is offered effortlessly to one's children or spouse or family. Within it is found the same pleasure and a sense of purpose, and it is not that hard to express as God requires. He wants every human being to love Him. As the Apostle of love wrote, "We love because He first loved us" (1 John 4:19 NIV).
Some have said that it was because of his great love for Eve that the first Adam willingly gave up his life at the fall because he did not want to spend eternity without his bride. The Bible says that Jesus is the last Adam who willingly gave up His life because He did not want to spend eternity without His bride, the Church (See 1 Cor 15:45).
The infinite Creator God has given humanity an infinite capacity to love and be loved. Within Jesus - love incarnate - every Christian lives and move and has their being (See Acts 17:28). ) He is the foundation of all love. To love Him with all of the heart is the very least that one can do. The Great Commandment is about loving God with all of one's affections, emotions, and devotion. It is only within Him that one will find complete rest and contentment. Love fulfills all of the commandments because when a Born-Again Christian loves God, they fulfill all of the law.
