Have you ever noticed God’s funny math, especially when it comes to love?

Jesus boils all the law into these two commands…

Jesus answered, “The foremost is, ‘HEAR, O ISRAEL! THE LORD OUR GOD IS ONE LORD; AND YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH.’

“The second is this, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” – Mark 12:29-31

Has it ever occurred to you that if I give my whole heart to one thing, there would be nothing left for anything else?

I mean, I learned this in the 8^th grade! 1-1=0! If I give my whole heart, all my love to God, I have nothing left to give anyone else. Right?

I find that if I give my whole heart to something other than God, I come up with an empty heart and no capacity to love anything or anyone other than that idol. When I set all my affection on a person–even my wife or kids–my life goes askew and nothing works quite right.

However…

When I set all my love of the Father, Jesus and the Spirit of the Living God, I find He fills my heart with plenty for others. My capacity to love grows as my devotion to Him increases.

In effect, when I set my heart on anything or anyone other than God, my love container is a thimble full and hardly makes a splash at all. If I set my affections on the Lord, my Maker and the Lover of my soul, I no longer have a love container at all. Instead, my love flows like a river with its headwaters in heavenly places in Him.

It’s clear to me that the keeping of this command is only possible if you start with the first and move to the second.

However… (allow me one more, however, please)

When I go to the Good Book and ask Lord, how shall I love you? He answers,

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. – John 13:34

Oh boy. So I start with commandment two and work my way up?

Not really.

In effect, there is one commandment.

Love.

You may think it just doesn’t add up, but Agape (that’s the love we’re called to) has special mathematical properties that break all the rules.

Thanks for coming by.

I love you!

Ben