Foundations Part 1

     What are the primary foundations of our faith? Have you taken the time to think about that? There are a great many ideas and philosophies that make up Christianity, but ultimately I think it comes down to a few basics that are the heart of it all. Today is the first of what I hope to be several looks at what makes up the primary basis for our lives and faith.

So what is first? Well -cue drum roll- I'm going to start with … Love! Love more than anything else stands as an unmistakable pillar of all we believe.

1Corinthians 13:13 “And now abide faith, hope, love, these three;

but the greatest of these is love.”

Psalms 40:16 “Let all those who seek You rejoice and be glad in You;

Let such as love Your salvation say continually, "The LORD be magnified!"

     Of course love has many aspects as I believe I've mentioned before. Today however I'm going to focus on one very specific love, our love for God. God is our Father, our Savior, our Friend, He is so many things that we love here on earth but I don't think we take the time to truly understand what it is to love Him. This is the being who DIED for us and yet many of us (myself included) often give very little thought to how we are loving Him every day. Our days can slip right past us and we give Him only a cursory glance. However the Bible tells us to love God and to do it actively! It's important to remember that this isn't optional, it's a command.

Deuteronomy 6:5 "You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart,

with all your soul, and with all your strength.”

Deuteronomy 10:12 "And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you,

but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways

and to love Him, to serve the LORD

your God with all your heart and with all your soul,”

Mark 12:30 “And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul,

with all your mind, and with all your strength.' This is the first commandment.”

Micah 6:8 “He has shown you, O man, what is good;

And what does the LORD require of you

But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?”

     So faced with the knowledge that to love God is not a suggestion, how do we go about it? Well here again (as always) we have the Bible to inform us.

John 14:15 "If you love Me, keep My commandments.”

John 14:23 “Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me,

he will keep My word; and My Father will love him,

and We will come to him and make Our home with him.”

John 14:24 "He who does not love Me does not keep My words;

and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father's who sent Me.”

Psalms 119:10 “With my whole heart I have sought You; Oh, let me not wander from Your commandments!”

Now I know some people are rather put off by this. They think it odd that to love God means doing what He says, but think about it; I love my fiance by speaking and listening to her, by giving her gifts, by spending time with her, by trying to fulfill her desires, etc. Why does this suddenly seem shocking when we hear it about God? Look at it another way, we claim to believe that God is the ultimate good. We claim that He wants only whats best for us. If that's all true than shouldn't we want to follow His commands? Shouldn't we realize that the commands given to us by our all loving Father who wants only our best and who is incapable of evil, are good? So if we believe what He has told us, if we trust Him, if we LOVE Him, we SHOULD be listening to Him right? So our obedience becomes the outward expression of our love, the physical proof that our hearts and minds are bent in His direction.

     One more thing. God is (among many things) a God of promises. We are commanded to love Him but that's not all!

Psalms 31:23 “Oh, love the LORD, all you His saints! For the LORD

preserves the faithful, And fully repays the proud person.”

Psalms 145:20 “The LORD preserves all who love Him, But all the wicked He will destroy.”

Deuteronomy 11:13-15“And it shall be that if you earnestly obey My commandments which I command you today, to love the LORD your God and serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul, then I will give you the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your grain, your new wine, and your oil. And I will send grass in your fields for your livestock, that you may eat and be filled.”

When we place God first He will take care of the rest. God blesses those who seek Him.

     Finally, like everything else in the Christian walk, loving God perfectly is difficult if not impossible to do alone. While we are here on earth and trapped in the presence of sin we will continue to fail and falter. God knows this and gives us His strength and it is through His Spirit that we can succeed. At the end of days when we again bask in His presence, all the shadows will melt away and our struggling striving love will be perfected.