The Laws of Love

Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night (Psalm 1:1).

An interviewer once asked several people, "What do you think of the Ten Commandments?" One person just stared at the interviewer and gasped, "Are you kidding?" Another said, "Well, I don’t take them literally." One person replied with a laugh, "Well, I think rules were made to be broken." Another said, "It’s fortunate we don’t have to keep them anymore." But one woman replied, "Well, I think God loved us an awful lot to give them to us—to protect us from ourselves."

People don’t like laws. We don’t like being told what we can and cannot do. We often think that laws are fine for other people, but they are a nuisance when they put limits on what we want to do. But you know what? God gave us His laws because He loves us. Think about the commandments. You are to treat your parents with respect, you are not to kill, you are not to cheat on your spouse, you are not to steal, you are not to lie, you are not to be envious or jealous. These are not restrictive commands; these are commands to love and respect each other. Jesus summarizes these commands this way: love your neighbor as yourself (Mark 12:31).

But as important as these commandments are for our well being and the good of society, they are not the first commandments. The first commandments are these: you are not to regard anything as more important than God, you are not to disrespect God, and you are to set aside time for God every week. Jesus summarizes these commandments this way: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength (Mark 12:30). These are not restrictive commands either; these are commands of love that seek to save us from eternal misery. If we have no relationship with God when we die, we cannot live with Him in heaven; we will be separated from God forever in the place called hell. So our Lord urges us, in no uncertain terms, to place Him front and center in our lives now because He wants us to always be with Him. God gives us the Ten Commandments because He loves us and wants the very best for us, both here in life and hereafter in eternity.