Loving God: The First Four Commandments

A scribe came to Jesus and asked, “What is the greatest commandment?” Jesus replied, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There are no other commandments greater than these'” (Mark 12:30–31).

With that statement, Jesus neatly sums up the Ten Commandments. The first four commandments relate to our (vertical) relationship with God. The second six commandments relate to our (horizontal) relationship with others.

• Commandments 1–4 teach love for God.
• Commandments 5–10 teach love for others.

Augustine put this into perspective when he said, “Love God and do as you please.” When you really love the Lord with all of your heart, with all your mind, and with all your strength, you naturally want to do the right thing.

If I truly love God, I will not have other gods before Him, make graven images, or take His name in vain.

If I truly love my neighbor as myself, I will not steal from my neighbor, lie to my neighbor, covet what is my neighbor’s, or kill my neighbor.

God gave us the Ten Commandments as a standard to live by. We cannot accomplish this through our own strength, but we can “do all things through Christ” (Philippians 4:13). He wants to give us new desires and to eliminate old ones. He wants us to obey God’s law not because we have to, but because we want to.

Once that happens, we will no longer see God’s commands as restrictions, but as barriers designed to guard and guide our lives.