Daily Verse | 1 John 5:3
This is love for God: to obey his commands.

Friday’s Reading: 2 John and 3 John
Saturday’s Reading: Jude

It’s the Friday before Christmas and my last opportunity to wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas!

While our country is a hot mess and getting worse every day, the one thing that can’t be destroyed is a personal belief in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and in the birth of his Son, Jesus Christ. Indeed, it is often the only thing that has given people the strength to endure unimaginable persecution and deprivation under some of the worst regimes in history, starting with the Roman emperors and continuing to present day in states like China.

But such faith keeps us from disobedience and, in fact, strengthens us in our resolve to obey our Lord, as today’s Daily Verse shows us: love for God is to obey his commands. In fact, as I wrote here, to hear God is to obey God, and I end the week with the following meditation ahead of Christmas.

In speaking of what the greatest commandments are, Jesus said,

“The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord 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: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”
— Mark 12:29-31

In Deuteronomy 6:4 we find perhaps the most essential prayer in all of Judaism — the Shema (sh’-mah), a daily recitation affirming God’s singularity and kingship. The name Shema comes from the first word of the verse, which means “hear” or “listen.”

She-ma yisrael, adonai eloheinu, adonai echad.
Hear O’ Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One.

To “hear” in English means to be aware of sound. In our culture, we can hear someone talking and either absorb and respond to it, or ignore what is said. Not so in Hebrew society. When they’re called “to hear,” it’s a call to act. Hearing and doing are the same thing. To hear God is to obey God.

Immediately following that declaration is what Jesus calls the first and greatest commandment: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” If the preceding is true about God — that He is the singular, only true God, and that He is our God — the first and foremost way of expressing our devotion to Him is by loving Him with everything that we’ve got.

And, says Jesus, the next greatest commandment has the same force as the first: love your neighbor as yourself. No commandment is more important than these two.

Love God. Love others.

In Hebrew culture, love isn’t just an emotion — it’s an active attachment. It means following through on our commitment. If we “hear” (sh’-mah) this command, it means we will faithfully respond out of obedience and loyalty to the Lord. Being commanded to love is a matter of doing, not just feeling.

This is the foundation of our redemption. Above everything else, God desires that we love Him completely and totally. That is the greatest commandment. That is why Jesus came. The purpose God had in saving us was that we might love Him based on His intrinsic worth as the one and only true God. Out of that, we love others.

The baby born in the manger expressed perfect obedience to these two commandments. He always did what pleased his Father (John 8:29) and he loved others to the fullest extent possible (John 13:1). He showed us what it meant to love God through his unwavering obedience to His commands. He showed us what it meant to love others by going to the cross on behalf of a lost world.

O believer, may you hear these words this Christmas!

Have a great weekend.