There are three biblical mandates that I believe give order, purpose, and direction to our lives. As we wrestle with the inequities and injustices, challenges and difficulties over which we have no control, these mandates from God give context to our lives. I wrote about the first mandate in a previous blog. We were commanded to oversee God’s creation. It was the first command given to mankind in the Bible and gives purpose and focus to our lives. It brings meaning to every form of work that we do.
The second mandate is found in several forms throughout the gospels. In Matthew 22:36 Jesus was asked, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied, “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” (Mt 22:37-40). Love God and love your neighbor are the two greatest commands. They summarize everything given in the Law of God. In John 13:34-35 Jesus said to his disciples, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.” As believers in Jesus Christ we are called to love people.
Sometimes I fear that we, as believers in Jesus Christ, love truth more than we love people. I recall a time when the elders of a church I served were debating what tagline to put on the bottom of our new church sign. I suggested “Speaking the truth in love” from Ephesians 4:15. One elder immediately reacted to the idea saying, “Every time I hear that verse quoted it is followed by a criticism.” Unfortunately he was probably right. The problem is that people overemphasize the truth part of the verse to the neglect of the love part. Truth is more than criticism.
As a young pastor I had to learn that lesson. I was passionately praying for every person in the church I was serving. I was telling God what was wrong with each of them and asking him to fix them. As I was praying I sensed God saying, “Why don’t you thank me for them?” To which I replied, “Because there is nothing to thank you for.” I was angry and frustrated. I had forgotten to love those whom God had called me to serve. As I began to thank God for each member of the church God changed me. I was learning to love.
The current Covid-19 quarantine has filled many with anxiety, fear, loneliness, and frustration. We react against the government taking away our rights. We chafe under the limits imposed on us. We react against what we consider inequities in the rules. In doing so, we forget that life is not about us. It is about serving God and serving others. Physical distancing is about loving one another. Personal hygiene like washing our hands, covering our cough, and staying away from people when we are sick is about loving people. As believers we ought to be more concerned about how to love one another and our communities than about our own personal rights. Romans 5:5 reminds us that “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” May God grant us grace to live out that love in a way that truly demonstrates love.
Truth must never be compromised, but neither must love. We cannot speak truth without love or we distort the truth. We cannot love without truth or we distort love. We serve a God of hope who was not taken by surprise by this pandemic. Pray for those serving on the front lines, those who have lost their jobs, and those whose businesses are at risk. Serve and help wherever possible without putting yourself or others at risk. Ephesians 5:2 instructs us to “walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us.” Not everyone responded to his love, but he loved the world enough to die for it. In a time of high anxiety may we love like God.
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