Command 39 : Love the Lord | Day 267

Keep the Greatest Commandment!

A few days after his wedding, a young husband decided to take his bride to an elegant restaurant. They were seated, and soon an attractive young waitress arrived at their table. The husband looked up at her with obvious delight, engaged in a few moments of friendly conversation, and then ordered his meal.

As the waitress walked away, the happy husband turned his eyes back to his wife and was startled by the change in her countenance. She looked hurt and grieved.

"Honey," he said, "what's wrong?"

"I saw how your eyes lit up when you looked at that waitress. That hurt me!"

He was confused, "Why should that hurt you? I was only trying to be friendly."

This did little to comfort his distressed wife. She was hurt by the delight he had in another woman. Hadn't he just vowed before God that "forsaking all others" he would love and cherish her with his whole heart?

A marriage is a covenant relationship and in such a union there can be no toleration of any competing affections.

When I first heard this story, I assumed the wife was being overly sensitive and needed to overcome her jealousy. However, later I was in a counseling situation that caused me to recall this event, and what transpired that day changed my life.

As I thought about the couple, these words of Scripture came to mind with new meaning: “...For I the LORD thy God am a jealous God" (Exodus 20:5). While pondering these words, I realized that God was aware of every delight, friendship, or affection that was in competition with my love for Him. He was not only aware of them, but their existence causes Him to have the same jealous reaction as this wife had.

It occurred to me that just as a wife looks at the eyes of her husband when another woman is present, so the Spirit of the Lord watches the eyes of our hearts when a worldly attraction comes before us. If our eyes "light up" with lustful delight, His Spirit is grieved. James affirms this truth: “Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. Do ye think that the Scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?” (James 4:4-5).

That day I realized that either I would love the Lord with all my heart and receive His blessings, or I would delight in competing affections and experience His discipline. James 4 begins with these words: “From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts [competing desires] that war in your members?" I purposed then to keep His greatest commandment:

Command Thirty-Nine: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment” (Matthew 22:37-38).

Recognizing that in my own strength I could not love the Lord as I ought, I asked Him for the grace needed to love Him with all of my heart, soul, and mind. While I know that my love has been imperfect, His grace has been sufficient.

I urge you to search your heart identifying and rejecting any affections that compete for the loyalty that belongs to God alone. Then purpose that you will love God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and ask Him for the grace to do so.