Nov
2
Another Impossible Goal
Filed Under Devotional
I love God, but do I love Him with all my heart, mind, soul, and strength? The Great Commandment starts with this and ends with “and love your neighbor as yourself.” The repetition in my life of three steps forward and one or two back can only be dissected when I begin to look at this challenge from three sides. My love of God, my love of my neighbor, and my love of myself. This is a trinity because each love is individual and, together, a whole when viewed as the Great Commandment.
This trinity spins on the axis of sincerity. The word “sincerity” comes from the Latin sincerus which means clean and pure. In short, I cannot love God, my neighbor, or myself without being clean and pure. Even shorter, I cannot fulfill the Great Commandment until I am clean and pure. Clean and pure men? Again, we seem to arrive at a point of impossible perfection. That is why Jesus Christ is the only person ever to fulfill the Great Commandment and why we should reach out to emulate and become like Him. He is the only destination if we say, “I love God.”
“But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.” 1 Timothy 1:5
A very simple statement, but you’ll notice that even Paul says it’s a goal.