God Requires Perfect Love, Nothing Less

God requires perfect love, complete love, love for both God and our neighbor. 

The summary of the law emphasizes this when it says, 

• “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, 
• and with all your soul 
• and with all your mind.” 

Three times the word “all” is repeated. 

• And the reference to heart, soul and mind certainly emphasizes the fact 
• that God demands that I sacrifice my whole self 
• as a living sacrifice of love and gratitude to God.

Through God’s law I come to know what a wretched person I am. 

• I have wandered away from God through my disobedience. 
• I have lost all the wonderful gifts which God had given me at creation, 
• gifts such as purity, integrity and uprightness. 
• Now I am left with none of these gifts and I am unable to do any good. 

This is what I confess:

• Can I keep all this perfectly? 
• No, I am inclined by nature to hate God and my neighbor. 

There are some who claim that the law is no longer in force today. 

• They say that in the Old Testament there was the law, 
• but today there is grace, i.e., the command to love. 

In the Old Testament they had to strictly obey these laws, 

• but in the New Testament we only have to love God and our neighbor. 
• However, Christ said that the law has not passed away (cf. Matthew 5:17) 
• and as I read in John 14:15, love for God will produce obedience to His commandments.