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‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God.’
Deu_6:5
I. We cannot love an abstraction.—God must be a personal God before we can love Him. We must have a sense of property in Him. He must be our own God.
II. Presence is essential to love, even in human love. If we have not a presence in fact, we always make it in fancy. There is an imaginary presence of the person we love always with us. God says, ‘My presence shall go with thee.’
III. There must be prayer.—Communion with the absent whom we love is essential to the existence and the growth of love.
IV. God is really a present God. Therefore we must do acts—acts which have Him in them. Acts of love make love.
V. There is no love like union—wedded union. And so through this mystery of union the love grows fond, intense, eternal. Our whole being gathers itself up to one focus, and the demand of the text becomes possible, and the duty becomes a necessity.
Rev. Jas. Vaughan.
Illustration(1) ‘How shall I love God?
With the love of a newborn soul. There is a family, spiritual and divine. I am brought into it by a supernatural grace and a stupendous change. Formerly I was outside the home; now I am within. I breathe a thousand tendernesses. I am become a son of the Father.
And with the love of a thankful heart. He has done so much for me, and He continues to do so much. It is impossible to sum up His kindnesses; they are like the grains of sand on the shore, like the stars in the fathomless depths of the sky. How can I help loving Him?
And with the love of the sympathising spirit. I am a scholar in His school. I must be drinking in His truth. I must be growing up into His likeness. I must share His likes and dislikes. Am I a citizen of the heaven in which He dwells, the heaven where nothing denies?
And with the love of the surrendered life. God owns me, in order that I may glorify His name, may advance His kingdom, may accomplish His ends. Mine should be an active, sacrificing, suffering love. There is room and to spare in the world for a larger exercise of it.’
(2) ‘We have a Trinity of “Love.” The Father’s “love” originating,—the Son’s “love” executing,—the Spirit’s “love” applying. “Love” in heaven,—“love” on earth,—“love” in the heart. The fountain of “love,”—the stream of “love,”—the sweet draughts of “love.” Above us,—around us,—within us. Free “love”; self-crucifying “love”; effectual “love.” Love’s Trinity.
And man has his trinity: “spirit, soul, and body.” Therefore, man’s “love” is threefold—intelligent, spiritual, active. Our “love” copies the Trinity of “Love.” ’
(3) ‘This word love has scarcely been spoken before in all their history. But now it occurs again and again. The command to love God means that they had come to see Him as the Love-worthy, whose every word and work and will was the highest and fullest good of His people. Love is to take the place of fear. And because God is Love, the seat of religion is to be in the heart. God is to be served not with the cold formalities of worship, however awful and reverent the service may be made, but with the warmth of the heart and the gladness of its devotion. It is, I believe, a peculiarity of pearls that they lose their beauty and charm unless they are kept in contact with the warmth of life. They must be worn to keep their worth. And the precepts of our holy religion, these pearls of great price, must he kept in the warmth of the heart’s love, or they become but dead words. To know by heart is the only way to know God. We must carry the glad consciousness of His presence; we must live with the door of communication ever open to Him. The real treasures of life are those that the heart takes care of. Broken bits of memory—a face, a book, a tone, a word, a promise, a whispered wish, a hope—these make the glory and wealth of life. Amongst these the Word of God is to find a place. “These words which I command thee this day shall be in thine heart.” ’