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March 11, 2014
The Right Order of Love |
"Jesus replied: 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'" Matthew 22:37-39 (NIV)
"I just want a boy to like me," she said with a sigh.
My heart understands her desire. As I sat around my kitchen table with my small group of high school girls, I realized again how some things never change.
We all want to be wanted. Whether you're a girl wanting a date with the guy in math class or a woman hoping for an invitation to lunch with a friend, each one of us wants to be wanted. To know we matter. To be chosen.
Wanting to be wanted is a good thing. It doesn't mean we're incredibly needy. It means we're normal. In fact, God created us with this desire. Here are two reasons:
1) So we would want a relationship with Him.
God created us for the sake of love. He has so much love to share and He wants a relationship with us. He chose us; now we choose Him.
2) So we would want relationships with others.
God also created us with the desire to share our lives with others, for friendships and family too.
Things get tricky and difficult when we reverse the order of these desires, which we easily do.
Whether we want to be loved by a boyfriend, a friend or a husband, when we go looking to "the one" to meet our needs before we fall in love with The One, we can get ourselves in a world of trouble.
Today's key verse from Matthew confirms the importance of this order. In this passage, an expert in the law asked Jesus the most important commandment. Jesus answered: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself'" (Matthew 22:37-39).
Jesus is clear on the order. The first command is to love the Lord with all our heart, soul and mind. Then we are to love others.
God didn't intend for people to fill our hearts with love. In fact, they couldn't even if they tried! We aren't equipped to do a job that big, as God never wants another to take His proper place.
When we love God with all we have first, our love expands, multiplies even, and we have more love to give to others. And that love is healthy because our hearts' needs are met by Him first.
However, when we reverse God's order and seek the love of others before God, our love source and its purity diminishes. Then love can become self-focused and unhealthy because our own God-designed needs aren't met.
God created a love gap in us only He can fill. When we try to love others out of our human love, we can run out of love. We begin looking to others instead of overflowing on others.
God's order is best. Get filled by Him first. Spill over to others after that.
Lord, it can be so much easier to look for love from those around me, those I can touch and see. Help me to keep love in order by first loving You with everything in me, and then allowing Your love to spill over on those around me. In Jesus' Name, Amen.
Related Resources:
Do you have a young woman in your life who needs to know the truth of love in its proper order? His Revolutionary Love and Devotions for a Revolutionary Year help young women find True Love before looking for love.
Would you like the women in your community to hear this message? Consider bringing Lynn Cowell as a speaker to your church or group! Visit Lynn's speaker page for more information.
Visit Lynn's website today where she is sharing her top five verses for keeping love in order.
Reflect and Respond:
What negative effects can occur in our lives when our need to be wanted drives our actions?
What positive effects occur when we love God first and others second?
Power Verse:
Deuteronomy 10:12, "And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in obedience to him, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, ..." (NIV)
© 2014 by Lynn Cowell. All rights reserved.
Proverbs 31 Ministries
630 Team Rd., Suite 100
Matthews, NC 28105
www.Proverbs31.org
