"For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger." And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!"
Luke 2:11-14
Created for a sermon series about the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
In Mark 12:30 Jesus shares with His followers "you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength" (which is based upon Deuteronomy 6:5).
Why are we commanded to love God? Is he narcissistic or in need of a boost in self esteem? I don't think that's it at all. God knows that when we love him by following him, we find the peace of salvation and the rest and joy of truth and hope. The results of following him, is precisely why God wants us to love him. We are blessed and he is glorified. When we choose to disobey God, we find ourselves struggling with fear, doubt, and worry, but we're amazingly adept and denying or rationalizing these things away. God's truth is revealed either way in the end. He simply desires we choose that which benefits us and glorifies him. Why wouldn't he?
The image also intends to show the reality that the world inevitably clutters both paths available to us and that both paths lead to their own end. Sorry, but no "one mountain many paths" thing. The above is daily reality for every one of us.
Love God, or don't.
