To Love

“So now, O Israel, what does Adonai your God require of you, but to fear Adonai your God, to walk in all His ways and love Him, and to serve Adonai your God with all your heart and with all your soul …” (Deuteronomy 10:12).

What does it mean “to walk in all His ways?”  The Hebrew word used here is halakha which means to conduct our lives in a righteous manner and behaviour that is acceptable before the LORD and the community.  In order to do this, we need to learn the customs or etiquettes of the community – why things are done as they are. For example, in our community we respect the name of God, calling Him HaShem (the Name) or ADONAI (LORD).

In near eastern cultures and even in traditional Jewish homes you do not call your father or your mother or any older person by their first names.  It is disrespectful. My mum would strongly discipline me if I did such a thing when I was young.

As we read further in this passage of Deuteronomy, we see more of how we are to walk:

“…And love Him, and to serve Adonai your God with all your heart and with all your soul, to keep the mitzvot [commandments] of Adonai and His statutes that I am commanding you today, for your own good?” (Deuteronomy 10:12b-13).

This verse encourages us to love and worship Him alone with all our being.  This is also part of the Shema (Hear, O Israel). It is a continuation of what is found in Deuteronomy 6.

In addition, we are encouraged to keep the mitzvot [commandments] of Adonai and His statutes.  The Hebrew word translated here ‘to keep’ is שׁמר (shâmar) which means to hedge about or to protect. How do we protect the commandments and His statutes?  This hedging about has, over the centuries, resulted in what we call fence laws or the acceptable oral Torah.  Not all oral Torah traditions are accepted by every Jewish community.  For example, kitniyot is a custom among most Ashkenazi communities (Jews of Eastern European descent) of not eating legumes and other grains during Passover because they are considered to contain chametz or leaven. Other Jewish communities do not follow this tradition and it is sometimes a controversial issue.

But let us return to the commandment to love … In Deuteronomy 11, we read about loving God several times.  It also speaks about loving the outsiders, sojourners or guests.  The Hebrew word used here is גֵּיר – gayr.  Why is this important? Because it is with a portion like this, connecting Deuteronomy 6 and Leviticus 19:18, that the two greatest commandments were identified.

Yeshua Himself drew attention to this in Mark’s gospel when He was asked what was the greatest commandment:

“Yeshua answered, “The first is, ‘Shema Yisrael, Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai echad. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One. And you shall love Adonai, your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these” (Mark12:29-31).

Let us consider these commandments, first by looking at loving God.

How can you love someone you cannot see or touch? This was my dilemma, especially before I believed in Yeshua. The reason is that I did not understand what love was. My concept of love was based on infatuation and lust. Therefore, even the love I experienced within my family and among friends was conditionally based. This perception affected my relationship with God and others. I am much better now, but I am still learning. And it is a learning process every day.

There are few things we need to learn about loving God:

“This is love – not that we have loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atonement for our sins…If anyone acknowledges that Yeshua is Ben-Elohim [Son of God], God abides in him and he abides in God. So we have come to know and trust in the love that God has for us. God is love. Now whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him” (1 John 4:10-16).

From this passage, we see that God Himself is love and we can receive His love by first believing in Yeshua as the way to receive His love. Then we need to abide in Him through His Spirit in order to stay constantly in His love.

How? We see the real key to that in Yeshua’s teaching just before His death:

“If you abide in Me and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it shall be done for you. In this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be My disciples … Just as the Father has loved Me, I also have loved you. Abide in My love! If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and your joy may be full” (John 15:7, 9-11).

In order to abiding in the Father’s love, we need to abide in Messiah Yeshua, in His Word and keep (shâmar) His commandments. In this way, we will bear much fruit.

This means that, by default, we cannot love God unless we are accustomed to love by God Himself. As long as we live by the old nature (sinful nature or evil inclination), no matter what we do we cannot produce the fruit of love for God.  That is why the Apostle Paul challenges with these words:

“If I speak with tongues of men and of angels but have no love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains but have no love, I am nothing. If I give away all that I own and if I hand over my body so I might boast but have no love, I gain nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).

Sha’ul (Paul) is clearly indicating that spiritual gifts, signs and knowledge cannot beat the love of God. In fact, even if someone is so sacrificial so as to gain fame, it is useless without the love of God. Other translations in verse 3 have: “If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have no love, I gain nothing.”  This statement echoes Yeshua words:  “No one has greater love than this: that he lays down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).

Sha’ul continues to expound what love is by saying:

“Love is patient, love is kind, it does not envy, it does not brag, it is not puffed up, it does not behave inappropriately, it does not seek its own way, it is not provoked, it keeps no account of wrong, it does not rejoice over injustice but rejoices in the truth; it bears all things, it believes all things, it hopes all things, it endures all things. Love never fails” (1 Corinthians 13:4-8).

Why does love never fail?  We can see more of Paul’s thoughts on this in his letter to the Galatians:

“But the fruit of the Ruach [Spirit] is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control – against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Messiah have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” (Galatians chapter 5:22-24).

So, if love is the fruit of the Holy Spirit who dwells in believers, there is no way we can produce the fruit of love by our own efforts. What we need is a daily renewal of our total surrender to Yeshua.  We must remind ourselves of the immersion we had in His death whereby our old nature was buried with Him.  We must remember that when He was raised from the dead, we were given new life and made a new creation.  As new creatures, we can love God by obeying His Torah and, in that way, our love can be extended to others as the Apostle John described:

“We know that we love God’s children by this – when we love God and obey His commandments. For this is the love of God – that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome” (1 John 5:2-3).

If we are honest, we know that it is often difficult to love God.  We are not very good at obeying His commandments and His Word in general. Neither are we good at loving others. Yet, HaShem, the Lord, loves us unfailingly and equally, though He may be pleased more by some who are very submissive to Him and their fruit may be greater than others. 

Nevertheless, John insists that “His commandments are not burdensome.” He explains further in his next few verses:

“For everyone born of God overcomes the world. And the victory that has overcome the world is this – our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world, if not the one who believes that Yeshua is Ben-Elohim [Son of God]?” (1 John 5:4-5).

In order to love God, we need to obey His commandments, just as we saw Moshe (Moses) teaching the children of Israel. Our obedience should be based on total trust and faith in Yeshua.  In this way, we can overcome the worldly mindset that hinders us from receiving love from God.  We will be empowered to love Him and love others.

Remember, we cannot produce the fruit of love without the ruach hakodesh [Holy Spirit]. On our own initiative and without faith, it is impossible.  If we are willing to die to self, putting to death the old nature with the help of the Holy Spirit, we will experience abundant life in the Holy Spirit and overcome the world with its desires and lusts, making it possible to obey God.