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MarK 12:30:
30And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.
The commandment to love our neighbor as ourselves, receives so great an emphasis in our time, that among the rank and file of people the first and great commandment has more and more passed into oblivion. At least, that it should be put first as every one's highest calling, not merely to serve the Lord our God, but also to love Him —who among the great masses of people think of this?
This substitution of the second in place of the first commandment has obtained such a hold upon people, that even among believers, loving God has lost devotion and warmth.
There is more response when, from the pulpit, pity, generosity and self-sacrifice in behalf of one's neighbor are entreated, than there is when the far higher calling of loving God is urged.
This reversal of order is fatal.
For he who loves God, also loves the brother; while, on the contrary, it is by no means the rule, that he who loves his neighbor also loves his God.
The first commandment guarantees the second, but not, likewise the second, the first. To be warm toward God and cold toward the brother, is simply unthinkable; but innumerable are the men and women who in all sorts of societies for the sake of aiding the neighbor put themselves to the fore, but who are stone-cold toward God, not infrequently even denying His existence.
It is, therefore, supremely necessary, that a counterpoise be put into the scale, and that, with emphasis and seriousness, the great commandment, to love God, be bound again upon the heart of all Christendom.
This call must again be sounded loudly in the Church, and the preacher would rightly understand his duty, who, week by week, would so warmly and eloquently bind this love for God upon the conscience, that, at length, the entire congregation would feel constrained to say: "How warmly does our pastor love his God!" and as though ignited by fire would itself revive in its love for God, with, perhaps, the entire board of officials in the lead.
The press also can and should co-operate in this. And by means of these meditations we are bent upon opening the eyes of as many as possible to the need of making communion with, knowledge of, and love for, God more than ever before our daily concern.
Soundness in the faith, a blameless walk and many good works are undoubtedly indispensable, but the marrow of all religion is blessed fellowship with the eternal Being, and in this fellowship it is only the love for God that makes gold glisten.
And yet, why conceal it? as soon as one seriously tries to make this love for God real, he stumbles at once upon a very great difficulty.
This difficulty lies in the two words that stand at the head of this meditation, or really only in the last of the two—in this painful word all.
"Would you love God?" says Jesus, "then you must love Him with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind." And to this, let us humbly confess it, it does not come in this life even with the holiest of saints. Not by a long way.
Sin and the world have so far estranged us from God, that sometimes it requires an effort to lift up the soul in a conscious utterance of love to God three or four times a day, apart from our prayers. Would it be saying too much, if we add to this, that there is a great deal of prayer made in church and at home, during which the soul has no dealings with God?
And when you do succeed, at least a few times a day to feel your soul go out in love to your God, what then is the degree of tenderness in your love, and how long does this exaltation of soul continue? Still more, how often does this become in you a thirsting after God?
But suppose you have come thus far, not every day, but most days—how far do you even then fall short of this loving of your God with all your soul, all your heart and all your consciousness? For this all must doubtless include all the day, so that at no time the love for God escapes, or is asleep in you.
Now here, of course, a distinction must be made. The love for God can well up in your heart, it can scintillate in your word, can hold you back from sin and selfishness, and can inspire you to deeds of devotion and heroic courage; and it is entirely true, that the inspiration of this love can operate in us, without our being aware at the moment of a conscious feeling of tender love for God rising in our soul, or without becoming aware of a reciprocal working of His love in our heart.
A martyr from love for God can go into death, and yet at the moment of dying be so distracted by mortal pain, or by the taunts of his executioners, that all tender love-fellowship with his God falls away.
It is also true, that our business, our intercourse with people, and the cares that fill our mind, so engage our thoughts, that we perhaps—yes, are able—to send up to God a passing utterance of soul, and yet are utterly unable, to concentrate our soul and senses upon God and center them in Him.
A mystical love for God, which would lose itself all day long in contemplation, would end in neglect of business, and thus be in conflict with love for God.
But even though you bring all this into account, it is still the great commandment, that you shall love your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind; and who of us ever accomplished more than a small part of the whole?
There has been One, who has not failed even in this first and great commandment, but no more than one: even the Christ.
Of the second commandment, of neighborly love, you feel that Jesus alone fulfilled it completely, and yet, with respect to love for their fellowmen, although at a great distance, many saints have pressed His footsteps.
But when you go back to the first and great commandment, Jesus stands in the fulfillment incomparably alone. Yea, He, and He alone among all, has loved God with all His heart, all His soul, all His mind and all His strength, always, till the end, without one moment's interruption.
This is His crown of glory.
Therein is the life of the world.
Apart from Him, the whole world, with its thousands of millions of people, stands before God, without there being one among them all, who has ever kept the first and great commandment.
But now comes Christ, and now there is indeed one.
Now comes from a real human heart, from a real human soul and from a real human consciousness this pure, full, unalloyed love, for the enjoyment of which love offered unto Him by His creature, Almighty God has created the vast multitude of children of men upon this earth.
This is the shield that is lifted up over us.
This is what brings it to pass, that God can still tolerate this world and carry it.
With us, too, this love will come. Many of our beloved ones, who in this life did not reach it by a long way, in the realms of everlasting light now bring this perfect love-offering to God.
And we also will come to it, when in death we shall fully die unto sin, and shall know God, even as we are known.
At least if we fall asleep in Jesus. That is to say, if in our dying hour there shall be nothing, nothing more, that makes separation between us and Jesus.
And what is the cementing power that causes you to cleave to Jesus? Is it not that you love your God; that this love for God has been poured out into your heart, that it has operated in you; that you esteem it of foremost significance; that with all your lack and with all your shortcomings, you have willed, that this love for God should impart unto you your highest inspiration, and should enable you to attain the best?
This is the mystery of being a Christian, that as you hide in the perfect love wherewith Jesus has loved your God, through this glow of His love you feel love for God kindle in your own heart, and that whenever this spark of love goes out again, Jesus rekindles it.
* * * * * * *This devotional classic offers 110 meditations on a single thought from Psalm 73: "As for me, it is good to be near to God." The author states, "The fellowship of being near unto God must become reality ... it must permeate and give color to our feeling, our perceptions, our sensations, our thinking, our imagining, our willing, our acting, our speaking. It must not stand as a foreign factor in our life, but it must be the passion that breathes throughout our whole existence."
The meditations reflect the blending of spiritual vigor with doctrinal loyalty so consistently expressed in the life of Abraham Kuyper. These are devotions with true substance, avoiding the extremes about which Kuyper adds a word of caution: "Stress in creedal confession, without drinking from the Living Fountain, runs dry in barren orthodoxy, just as truly as spiritual emotion, without clearness in confessional standards, makes one sink in the bog of sickly mysticism."
Abraham Kuyper (1837-1920) was a Dutch political leader and Calvinist theologian. Elected to parliament in 1874, he became Prime Minister in 1901 and served in that capacity until 1905. As a theologian, he revived a systematic, orthodox Calvinism. He founded the Free Reformed Church and the Free University of Amsterdam. His other works include Principles of Sacred Theology, Lectures on Calvinism, and The Work of the Holy Spirit
Further information about Abraham Kuyper's life can be seen in the translator's "Biographical Note"; further information about To Be Near Unto God can be Abraham Kuyper's "Preface" to that book.
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