Exodus 18-23 (view this passage)

nathan made this entry on September 27th, 2006
Topic(s): Love

After bringing out of slavery in Egypt, God led his people to Mount Sinai where he gave them the ten commandments. When God spoke to them, he did it with a lot of fanfare - lighting, thundering, smoke and fire. With all of that going on, God spoke his commandments to the Israelites.

I believe that over the past few weeks God has been trying to get me to focus on what love really means. He has been showing me that love is really what this is all about. Everything God has done deals with love.

I think after looking at several things I am starting to see a clearer picture of what God is trying to show me. God is love Himself; He is the very definition of what love is. God wants us to love just as He does, as He has gone through great lengths to help us to understand. If you were to ask me before what the definition of sin is, I would have said that sin is going against what God wants, or that basically sin is going against the laws of God. Now I think its deeper than that. While yes sin is going against the law of God, at the core sin is the lack of love. When we sin we are not with love.

Looking at the ten commandments again, when you really look at them they are commandments, but even more so they are a tangible expression of what love is. The commandments were not given just for the Israelites to keep them; they were given so that they would have a better understanding of what love truly is. God not only gave the ten commandments but in chapters 21-23 God gave other instructions of how people should act. When Jesus was asked what was the greatest commandment, he said it was to love God first and then love man. This was not to change the ten commandments, but again to better help us understand what it means to love. When Jesus came, he even further defined what love is by the life He lived. He lived a selfless life for the benefit of others. He had a close relationship with God and did His will. Jesus said that everything he did on earth God himself would have done if he were on earth. If God is love, then Jesus is the ultimate expression of love because he was a living example of what love truly means.

1 Comment

Powerful statements there Nathan. Jesus was definitely Love made in the flesh. Even though the majority of this world rejected Him, that Love was able to cover a multitude of sins that stretches to even all of us in our day. God knows what he's talking about when He asks us to Love Him first and also love man. The act of love is able to draw a person to repentance and carry on in that person what Jesus did on the cross...but that Love can't be shared unless we learn from Love Himself.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts little bro.

esther-


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