Matthew 22:37-40 (37) Jesus replied: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. (38) This is the first and greatest commandment. (39) And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. (40) All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments. The Ten Commandments can be summarized in two overall principles: love toward God (Deuteronomy 6:5) and love toward neighbor (Leviticus 19:18). The first four commandments deal with our relationship with God, and the last six commandments expound on our relationship with fellow man. What does it mean to have a relationship with God? An analogy is frequently used to describe the relationship between Christ and the church is that of a groom and a bride (Revelation 21:1-4). Likewise, Paul writes in II Corinthians 11:2: For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. The word betrothed seems somewhat archaic; today, we would say the church is engaged to Christ. By making the New Covenant with Him, we have agreed to spend all eternity with Him, but at present, we are within the period preceding the marriage described in Revelation 19:7-9. Following the analogy, we are to be preparing ourselves for this future relationship. During this preparation time, the parties involved are getting to know each other. God the Father has handpicked us for this relationship, and now is the time we need to make ourselves ready.
Posted on: Mon, 17 Mar 2014 10:30:23 +0000
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