Morning Devotional
July 4, 2005
"Independence Day, 2005" (Part 2)   
    by Don Emmitte

But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees with his reply, they thought up a fresh question of their own to ask him. One of them, an expert in religious law, tried to trap him with this question: "Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?" Jesus replied, "`You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: `Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the other commandments and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments." (Matthew 22:34-40 NLT).

 

Yesterday we looked at the first phrase of the closing words of the Declaration of Independence: "And for the support of this Declaration…” Today I want to look at the next phrase:  “…with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence…”

 

Yesterday we looked at the call to love God and others as a part of our call to freedom. It is a challenge to live such a life. However, just as the authors of the Declaration of Independence recognized their dependence on God to accomplish their goal of freedom, so must we. It can only happen with complete trust and dependence in God. Perhaps the first question that comes to mind concerns the “what” of loving God. Of course there are many applications of our love for God. All of those are actions that result from the reality of love that grows in our heart.

 

Perhaps the following will help in your thoughts about loving God. Francis Xavier, a priest who lived between 1506 and 1552, wrote it. Edward Caswall provides the translation.

 

My God, I love Thee; not because I hope for heaven thereby,
Nor yet because who love Thee not are lost eternally.

Thou, O my Jesus, Thou didst me upon the cross embrace;
For me didst bear the nails, and spear, and manifold disgrace,

And griefs and torments numberless, and sweat of agony;
Yea, death itself; and all for me who was thine enemy.

Then why, O blessed Jesus Christ, should I not love Thee well?
Not for the sake of winning heaven, nor of escaping hell;

Not from the hope of gaining aught, not seeking a reward;
But as Thyself hast loved me, O ever-loving Lord.

So would I love Thee, dearest Lord, and in Thy praise will sing;
Solely because Thou art my God, and my most loving King.

 

God is the object of our love because he loves us! At lest for me, I find it much easier to love someone when they love me. Perhaps some of the difficulty people face in truly loving God is at the point of their understanding and experience that God REALLY loves them. He does. Start there.