How Well Do We Really Love?

Rob Kaczmarek
Written By Jeff Rybacki
 
“And a ruler asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
— Luke 18:18 ESV

The title of this devotional doesn’t seem to quite fit the Scripture verse, but I want us to consider that this moment with the rich young ruler and the Savior actually goes deeper than we may traditionally think. It goes right to the very heart of how we love God and others. 

This young man comes to Jesus, and it seems that his intentions are very honorable. He asks Jesus how he can know if he has eternal life. What must he do? I believe the conversation comes from a very sincere place. In Mark, the account starts with the man running up and kneeling before Jesus to ask his question. Then, it tells us that Jesus looked upon the man and had love for him. So, this is not like the rulers who wanted to trap Jesus--this question was from a man who genuinely wanted to know about his spiritual condition. 

That seems no different than many of us. We come to God and we ask him all kinds of questions about how we should live this life, or the decisions we will make, or how to handle certain circumstances. But Jesus answered the man in a very interesting way, as he often seems to answer us when we come to him. 

Jesus starts by saying, Why are you asking me? You have the law of God. It is good, it doesn’t need help. What does this say to you? Jesus then lists the 10 commandments to the man. This is where we may miss the subtle way that Jesus starts uncovering the way this man is failing to love. 

When asking Jesus what the greatest commandment was, his response was to love God with all your mind, body, soul, and strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus told the man that the way to be justified is to be yielded completely to God and love him as well as his neighbor! It becomes more clear as the conversation continues. 

The young man says he has done all these things. It’s interesting to note that even though he has lived by the law, he is still unsettled. He still feels this performance-based religion is somehow deficient. If living by the law were enough, he would have felt satisfied with himself. 

Jesus told him something was keeping him from loving God the way he should, and it also keeps him from loving his neighbors as he should. It’s his desire for money! Suddenly, this man’s greatest love is exposed. He is not loving God with everything within himself. In fact, he loves money more than God, and the same is true with his neighbors. He would rather keep his possessions than to care for and show compassion to his neighbors with his money. This is clear, because when Jesus tells the man to go and give away his possessions and come follow him, the man turns to leave saddened. He doesn’t want to do this. He seems to be willing to do many other things, but not this. His heart for money and for self is exposed.

What is so tragic is that if we take a moment and reflect a bit more, we realize that this man was called to come follow Jesus. Jesus, the Son of God, who is himself love, called the man to come and follow him. Jesus is the love of God incarnate. So, love (Jesus) looked this man in the face and said “Come be with me,” and his response was, “I would like to, but I love money more. I’m sorry.” 

You know, we all can be just as blinded to our failure to love God and others the way this man was. It may not be money, but it easily could be other things: comfort, situations, people, habits, a lifestyle, good things, or vices that make us look Love in the face and say “Sorry, I love this more.” 

If we want to really love the way God calls us to, we must, as Jesus tells the disciples, die to ourselves and follow him. We need to strip away those things that keep us from loving God or people in any given moment and put on the new man who desires to fulfill the command of loving God and others more than loving self. 

If Jesus were to evaluate your relationship with God by how you have loved others, how would you score? In what areas do you think Jesus would call you to improve? Who could you ask that would be willing to point out, in a kind way, areas that you have missed or neglected? We are all like this young man, needing the grace and love of God to help us know how to love as Christ has loved us. .

Prayer

Father, help us to grow in love for you and for those around us. Reveal to us areas where we love lesser things more than we love you. Help us to release those things from a prominent position in our hearts and place them in their proper places. Keep us sensitive to your guiding word that helps us know how we should reflect the love of God to others. In the name of Christ we ask. Amen.

 
Jeff Rybacki
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