Jesus said that the first and greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with your whole heart and your whole soul and your whole strength and your whole mind (or all your thoughts). How do we love God? A common answer is that we love God by obeying him. Francis Schaeffer, in his book True Spirituality, says that we love God by being content.
He arrives at this by saying that the opposite of love is covet. "Coveting is the negative side of the positive commands [to love God and to love man]."
When we are content with our circumstances, no matter what they are, we are loving God according to Schaeffer.
What do you think?
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I disagree. I believe people can be content in life and still not give any glory or love to God.
ReplyDeleteAlso, love is an action, whereas contentedness is more of a feeling. When I'm content, I "feel good."
Furthermore, God calls us to a life of good times and bad. Following Christ to the fullest would be a fulfilled life, but not a "feel good" life.
Good points Jenna.
ReplyDeleteIt seems to me that contentedness CAN be an expression of one's love for God. It seems to me that contentment vs obedience is an unnecessary dichotomy.
How can someone argue that obedience isn't an expression of love for God? Jesus himself said "if you love me, you will obey what I command" John 14:15 and he repeated the idea saying "whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one that loves me" John 14:21
As certain seminary professors are fond of saying "it's not an either/or but a both/and"
from Carol:
ReplyDeleteObedience and contentment surely are a part of loving God, but how do you love Judy? Do you think about her? Do you cherish her? Do you adore her? Do you long to spend time with her? When I think of loving God, thats what I think of. Just being absolutely head over heels in love with this awesome,incredible,indescibably beautiful lover of my soul, so much so that I can't contain my joy and my adoration. He makes me want to sing and dance!
It is challenging to consider how contentment reveals our trust and our willingness to rest in God's will for us. And how that must really demonstrate to God that we believe He loves us and are secure in that love. I almost feel like our contentment is more about believing we are loved and being cared for by God, then about our love for God, but it is that also. I think that our obedience is much the same. It shows that we trust God and are willing to obey because of that. We trust Him because we know that He loves us. So our obedience and contentment are excellent indicators of our believing God loves us, and also of our surrender to Him. But can we be obedient to someone that we trust completely and still not love them? Is our obedience love? And is our contentment love? Or are they the appropriate responses of believing we are loved? Just thoughts.
Just some clarifications. Schaeffer did not say that obedience was not involved. He would say, I believe, that obedience is the outcome of love. But what I found intriguing was his notion that love is an internal whereas I've always heard, like Jenna expressed, that love is action.
ReplyDeleteSchaeffer arrived at this by starting with the commandment that brought Paul to see that he was a sinner, namely the commandment not to covet. Schaeffer rightly says that coveting "is an entirely inward. Coveting is never an outward thing..." He goes on to say two things that seem reasonable as well.
First, he says that the commandment not to covet is "the hub of the whole matter." He goes on to explain why this way: "Actually we break this last commandment before we break any of the others...So no matter which of the other Ten Commandments you break, you break two: the commandment itself, and this commandment not to covet."
Second, he said that "Coveting is the negative side of the positive commands, 'Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy [being];...and shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.'"
Therefore, if coveting is internal and it is the opposite of loving, then loving is internal as well.