The Cross-Shaped Life: Loving God First to Love Others Well
First things first
What did Jesus mean when he told us that the first and greatest commandment is to Love God with all that we are?
When I think of this command, I visualize the vertical beam of the cross. This beam represents an ‘I-You’ relationship. It is the longer of the two beams and it connects me to God: it is grounded in the earth and points to heaven.
““Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.””
Jesus tells us that we are to prioritize this relationship. My interaction with God must come first. That means that I am to turn towards Him, to spend time with Him, I am to bask in who He says that I am: I am to receive from Him, and to give to Him (1 John 4:19). This vertical beam defines who I am, and I am to operate my daily life out of this place.
The second commandment is to ‘love my neighbor as myself’. Here I visualize the horizontal beam of the cross. It is the smaller of the two and is supported by the first. All of my actions with people are to flow from my relationship with Christ. On one end of the beam is my neighbor and on the other end is me. The horizontal beam is not tilted; one end is not higher than the other: they are equal. Loving myself flows from knowing who I am in Jesus: chosen, sealed, adopted… all those Ephesians 1 truths. Similarly, loving my neighbor comes from the place of knowing God and His heart for people. I love them just as I love me.
The cross is an image of how Jesus loves. But there are times (probably most times) when the shape of my love is distorted. When things get out of whack, I find that I am no longer operating out of my vertical relationship with Christ, rather, my focus has been drawn out horizontally. Maybe this is why the writer of Proverbs tells us to ‘keep diligent watch over our heart for it is the wellspring of life’ v4:23. Diligent watching involves developing a sensitivity to my own experience and recognizing when things are out of whack: when my wellspring is running dry. Developing a sensitivity to my own experience is not selfishness, it is commanded. Developing a sensitivity to my own experience teaches me to live inside the boundaries of His love for me.
I can easily think of God in an impersonal way; and when I do, I feel dis-connected. Dis-embodied even. That’s why the first and greatest commandment is to love God. Love is relational, it involves an ‘I-You’ interaction. Loving God is my place of rest. He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside still waters. Relating with Him restores my soul.
When I sense that my wellspring is running dry, I can cry out to Him, I can preach the gospel to myself and remember who I am in Him, I can ask for encouragement and prayer from a friend. Finally, I can remember that Jesus obeyed the first and greatest commandment perfectly in my place and regardless how far from God I feel, I am hidden in Him and covered by His Grace.
Every now and then we invite the Biblical Living Center Team members to contribute to this blog. Having many voices who love Jesus and are especially wired to care for others allows for multiple perspectives that resonate with different people.
Nancy Beattie is a certified Biblical Counselor with the Association of Biblical Counselors, a Christian Trauma Care Provider, CTHN and has a BA in Psychology from Concordia. You can book a consultation with Nancy by clicking HERE