Jesus pointed to love for God and then love for others as the greatest commandments (Matt. 22:36-40). Certainly, then, these commands should be our top priorities. If Jesus’ priorities are going to be ours, then we need to broaden our perspective so our hearts and minds head in that direction.
Perspective Foundational to Keeping the Right Priorities
Foundational to truly making Jesus’ priorities our own, we must get beyond the commands. We need a higher reason than “God said so”, though that should be enough.
Think about loving God with all of who we our — making Him our top priority in life.
God is the One of whom there is none greater. He is above all and all belongs to Him, hence, making Him worthy of our full devotion. As a personal God filled with love and compassion, He doesn’t merely look for devotion that comes from robotic obedience but rather desires a relationship with us. Jesus clearly stated, “Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me” (Jn. 14:21).
In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome. (1 Jn. 5:3)
And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love. (2 Jn. 1:6)
Now think about loving others — the next priority.
God made people in His own image, hence making them important. Read Psalm 8 for the supremacy of mankind over all other creation. Read Psalm 139 and Matthew 6:26 for how God continues to value people. If we love God, we will love people (1 Jn. 4:21) for they matter to Him.
Perspective Critical to Our Ability to Keep These Priorities
We need to understand that loving God with all of who we are and loving others as ourselves is possible only because He first loved us. The ability for us to love starts with knowing the God who is love (1 Jn. 4:7-8) and who demonstrated that love by sending Jesus to die in our place (1 Jn. 4:9-11). The greatness of such love goes beyond our ability to measure (Eph. 3:17-19).
The ability for us to love more and more completely comes from knowing and relying on the love God has for us which provides the assurances we need to truly love. Fear tends to hold us back from loving God more fully and loving others as ourselves — fear of loss, fear of failure, fear of getting hurt, fear of disappointment, fear of betrayal, etc. (1 Jn. 4:12-19). When we know and rely on His love we push through those fears, doubts, and insecurities. “We love because he first loved us.” (1 Jn. 4:19)
With this kind of perspective we’re in a position to keep the right priorities but it takes more than a mental understanding of these two points. We need divine power to grasp that love (Eph. 3:17-21) — the topic of the next post.