1 John 4:19-21
God Loved Us First
19 We love because he first loved us. 20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. 21 And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.
Matthew 22:36-40
The Greatest Commandment
36"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" 37Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' 38This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' 40All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.
1 John 4:7-11
God is the Very Essence of LOVE
7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for[c] our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
Jesus teaches us about the Two Greatest Commandments, and they both are about love...God created us to love others...He also created us to be loved...This is because God is love...It only takes two to be in a loving relationship...Yet, in the Greatest Commandment, we are taught -to Love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind...And then we are taught to love your neighbor as yourself...In these very similar verses about love, St. John and St. Matthew write about God, ourselves, and our neighbors...There is this great connection between God and love for thy neighbor...
St. John writes much about love...St. John writes that when we love God, we cannot hate our neighbor...He puts it this way, and with a little twist...If we make the claim to be a believer and do not love our neighbor, then we do really not love God...The twist is, we can see our neighbors (and should love him) and not see our LORD (and we should love Him)...This point about love is interesting about who we see and love and what we cannot see and love....Is it easier to love God, whom we cannot see, or is it easier (or harder) to love our neighbor and neighbors whom we see and know their faults, the flaws, and those little things that bug us?...Is it just easier to love the perfection of God, who is not flawed?...Would the non-believer love God, if He could see Him?...Is love really about seeing and not seeing?...Does love begin first with seeing and an initial attraction?...St. John is reminding us that love is more about seeing with our eyes and an attraction...True love, loves more with our hearts, than it does with our eyes...In St. John's writings on love we see that love is complex...We must love God first, because He loved us first...Then we cannot love God, if and when we hate our neighbor...Anyone who loves God also loves his neighbor...
What is interesting in the Greatest Commandment question to Jesus, He is asks what is the ONE Greatest Commandment...He is not ask what is the second greatest commandment...But one His own, He tells us about the second greatest commandment...The second greatest commandment is to love your neighbor...This is very important to us, because Jesus has added something to the original question...God's very nature, and maybe the most important attribute of God, is that He is very meaning of Love...God is both the definition and essence of love...God is love itself...He can love the seen, the unseen, the flaws, the faults, and despite all the problems and mistakes we make, He still can love us...Love is something God is -and created in us as special (and special is an understatement)...Love is a gift from God to us...The best example I can think of we can remember a lot of things, but we always remember the ones and the neighbors we love and have loved...
Jesus makes one think that living life on earth will be much more fulfilling when we learn to love and support all neighbors...And in the midst of this, there seems to be something telling us, that when we can love Something we cannot see, we can better share in humanity and love those things we can see (forgiving of faults and all the flaws), including ourselves a little better...And it seems in loving others, we know a part of God...In trying to understand God (and in what St. John and St. Matthew write -and Jesus adding important extra text) a bit better, the more we try and love our neighbors, the closer we maybe to God...