Love God; Love Others

I just started reading a book on relationships by Dean Sherman. With Amanda and I going deeper into our relationship I wanted to read some books that would help me relate to her better, and ultimately help me become a better man for her, because she deserves the best, and I want to do my best to give that to her.

Anyways, I have been reading this book, and it has been amazing. There has been a quote that has been running through my mind since I read it, and for many people it may be obvious, but it has really hit me. The quote is found on page 17 of the book, it says:

“If we love God but leave out loving our neighbor, we become mystics. Jesus told us we cannot love God and hate our brother. He connected the two. On the other hand if we love our neighbor, but leave out loving God we are humanists. That’s where we are in society today.”

The reason this hit me so hard is because lately I have been struggling with seeing how all of this fits together. How do I engage in relationships with other people, and still make God my number one? How do I love Amanda, and still love God more than anything else? Is my pursuit of God somehow foiled or made less as I pursue others, and ultimately why do we do all of this on earth to only be wholly focused on God in the end? It was as if there was a separation or a competition between the two, loving God and being in relationship.

I read this quote, and it was not a new thought, but something clicked. It is almost as if something was knocked out of place, and reading these words somehow pushed back whatever was out of whack to where it was suppose to be. I realized or remembered we love God by loving others. In fact, it is out of our love for God that we learn to love others, and we are not just taught but moved to love others. His love for others and His heart for them is passed on to us, as we love them. And so as we love God we are pushed to love others, which is why Jesus said you cannot love God and hate your brother, because if you truly loved God, His love would cause you to love your brother. It is the natural byproduct of his receiving his love. We become love to those around us, through God’s love.

Then the amazing thing is that as we love each other we pour that love God poured on us back to Him. You see we show God how much we value Him, not just by spending time with Him, but by showing value to things He loves and created. I cannot say I love God, and treat the things that He loves like crap. So, I show God value and love, by loving Amanda. And as I love her and learn more of her value, which is endless, I realize how amazing of a gift she really is to me, which only makes me fall more in love with God, and thus I fall more in love with Amanda and God.

It is an endless cycle. God pours his love onto us, and then we fall more in love with him. He continues to pour out more his heart, which turns us to love those around us as we see His heart for them. As we love them we see their infinite worth and value, and fall more in love with the One who Created them and blessed us with their presence in our lives, God. He then pours more love into us, which we return to them, and to Him. It is a brilliant cycle, an endless cycle of love, joy, and value. It will stay that way as long as Jesus stays at the center of our lives, and that we never lose sight of the relationships around us. You see all of our relationship problems come when Jesus ceases to be our center, and when we fail to value the rest of the creation the He is so in love with.

However, if we do lose sight we must look to Christ; we must look deeper into His heart to see His yearning for His people, and let that heart become our heart, so that we can do nothing else but love those around us, like Him. We cannot love a brilliant painter, and treat His paintings as junk. And if we lose sight of Christ we must realize that to truly love those around us, we must love Jesus. We must look into the depths and infiniteness of those around us and realize there could be only source from which they came, and that is an infinite creator, and allow that truth to return us back to him

I know it sounds cliché, but this truly is our answer to better lives. Love God. Love others. It will unleash a cycle of love, joy, and value. We love God by loving others. We love others by loving God. Relationships are our priority!

I love you Amanda Joy! Thank you for spurring me on to a deeper relationship Christ. Jesus, thank you for putting Amanda into my life, the greatest gift you have given me outside of yourself! May I love her as you love her, and see her as you see her. You truly are an amazing King and an amazing Dad! I am blessed to serve you two for the rest of my life!