The Greatest Commandment
"Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 22:37-40 NKJV)
There is a reason why loving God with all that you are takes priority over everything in life. The reason being that, how are you possibly able to love your neighbor as yourself when you as an individual have a hard time loving yourself? In society today, we are faced with the issue of depression and identity crisis like never before. We have a hard time loving ourselves because we do not have a scope of who we are as individuals or what our purpose in life may be. How can we love our neighbor when we don't have the capacity to truly love ourselves?
The most simple answer is verse 37, when Jesus tells us that the greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul, and mind. It is all about having that intimate relationship with the One who created our very being. We were created in His exact image and likeness (Genesis 1:26). When we have that intimate relationship with God, we begin to scratch the surface of our understanding of His love for us.
1 John 4:8 shows us that God is the embodiment of what love is because He IS the definition of love itself.
When we begin to understand this, not only are we gaining the capacity to reciprocate that love back to our Creator, but to ourselves as well. When we are filled with God's love through our relationship with Him, we are then able to pour that love out on our neighbors (everyone around us).
"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." (John 13:34-35 NKJV)
"Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another." (1 John 4:7-9 NKJV)
So now the question is, what exactly is love? As we grow deeper in our understanding of God through our relationship with Him, 1 Corinthians 13 lays out a perfect example of what the love of God truly is.
Dictionary definition- a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person
Greek Definition
Love suffers long - μακροθυμέω - does not lose heart; perseveres patiently and bravely
Love is kind - χρηστεύομαι - is virtuous (conforming to moral and ethical principles; moral excellences; upright)
Love does not envy - ζηλόω- is not envious (Envy- a feeling of discontent/covetousness with regard to another's advantages, successes, possessions, etc) and contentious in rivalry (Contentious- tending to argument or strife)
Love does not parade itself - περπερεύομαι - boast oneself even to exaggeration
Love is not puffed up - φυσιόω - does not act in flesh
Love does not behave rudely - ἀσχημονέω - is not indecent or unbecoming
Love does not seek its own - ζητέω οὐ ἑαυτοῦ - does not require/demand something that's not theirs
Love is not provoked - παροξύνω - is not easily made angry or irritated
Love thinks no evil - λογίζομαι οὐ κακός - proposes, deems, reckons no evil
Love does not rejoice in iniquity - ἀδικία - does not deal fraudulently/deceitfully with others
Love rejoices in the truth - συγχαίρω ὁ ἀλήθεια -rejoices and defines in loving and speaking the truth and reality.
Love bears all things - στέγω - protects by covering all things
Love believes all things- πιστεύω - to have confidence in everything and commits to their trust
Love hopes all things - ἐλπίζω - confident expectation of eternal salvation of all things
Love endures all things- ὑπομένω - bear, tarry, and persevere bravely and calmly in all things
Love NEVER fails- οὐδέποτε ἐκπίπτω - agape never at anytime ever perishes, falls out of place or is powerless
The love of God defines every part of our being, from the mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual aspect of it.
The Hebrew correlation to the Greek word agape (ἀγάπη) is Ahaba (אַהֲבָה), which is the most in-depth form of love. This love is the revelation of the heart that is breathed into those you hold so dear.
This is the manner of love that God has for you and me. This is the reason for our existence. The Creator of all things, the ONE who is love itself created you for the sole purpose of being loved by HIM. Experiencing this love poured out through our relationship with HIM, we are able to love our neighbor as ourself.