A quick glance at the clock told me I should be walking out the door to take my three-year-old grandson, Mason, to preschool and yet, here we were, still trying to get our boots and coats on. It is no easy task for this Mimi to get him, or his one-year-old sister, bundled and out the door on time. Living in Upstate New York in the winter isn’t for the faint at heart, that’s for sure; it’s time-consuming to prepare kids to leave the house with all the gear on needed to keep warm.

Once organized and ready to go, I drove over to the school, up the driveway, and parked in front of the church where preschool is held.  Usually we would park in the parking lot and walk up the hill to the front doors, but today we were late and I presumed the other preschoolers had all been dropped off. Once I parked, I hopped down out of the jeep, helped Mason get down from his car seat, and shut the door. “Let’s go get your sister,” I said, walking to the other side of the car, assuming he was right behind me. He did not follow me. Instead, he remained planted right where I had set him.

As I began gathering Emery from her car seat, another car pulled up behind me. Yay! This meant I wasn’t the only one running late today.  It was at this moment that I heard a little boy begin to cry and call to his Mimi. As he walked around the front of the car, I asked him why he was crying. He responded: “You left me. You were supposed to be taking care of me and you just left me.” I assured him that I had not “just left him,” but that he was supposed to follow me. I reminded him that I had asked him to follow me to the other side and he had not done that. When the other car pulled in, it had frightened him because he had lost sight of his Mimi—the one he was counting on to take care of him.

Throughout scripture we read examples of Jesus, as our Shepherd, inviting us to listen and follow Him. “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Matthew 4:19 NKJV). He told the disciple who wanted to first go and bury his father to “Follow Me, and let the dead bury their own dead” (Matthew 8:22 NKJV). “Then Jesus said to His disciples, ‘If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me’” (Matthew 16:24 NKJV). “Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, ‘I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life’” (John 8:12 NKJV). The verse that lingered in my mind after Mason accused me of just leaving him was from John 10:27,  “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.”

When we are told to follow Him and we fail to do so, we can find ourselves in uncomfortable situations. When we fail to keep up and lose sight of Him, it can become scary for us because we feel alone. When that happens, how do we respond? Do we, like Mason, accuse Him of leaving us? “You left me, Lord. You were supposed to be taking care of me and You just left me.” Did He leave us or did we fail to follow Him?  When faced with that question, we must remember the promise He gave when He said: “And the LORD, He is the One who goes before you. He will be with you, He will not leave you nor forsake you; do not fear nor be dismayed” (Deuteronomy 31:8 NKJV). We can always hold on to this fact from John 12:26: “If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there will My servant be also. If anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him” (ESV).

Don’t lose sight of the One you are supposed to follow. Listen for His voice and when He says, "Follow Me" make sure you walk closely behind. 

One day Jesus was asked by an “expert in Jewish law” which commandment was the most important; He gave this answer:  "One of them, an expert in religious law, tried to trap him with this question: 'Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?' Jesus replied, 'You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: Love your neighbor as yourself. The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments'" (Matthew 22:35-40 NLT).

Last week we took a look at The Ten Commandments God handed down to Moses and discovered how the first four pertained to our relationship with God. Loving God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, for me, is summed up this way— love believes, worships, honors and dedicates. The next six Commandments show us how we can love others. Here they are….

1-Honor mom and dad. “Children, you belong to the Lord, and you do the right thing when you obey your parents. The first commandment with a promise says, ‘Obey your father and your mother, and you will have a long and happy life’” (Ephesians 6:1-3 CEV). Love honors your parents. When we love others as ourselves, we show honor to our parents when we respect them, speak well of them and obey them. God said if we honored our parents, our lives would be long and happy. Take a good look at your relationship with your parents. Do you honor and respect them? Do you speak well of them to others? Remember love honors mom and dad.

2-Do not murder.  “You know our ancestors were told, ‘Do not murder’ and ‘A murderer must be brought to trial.’ But I promise you that if you are angry with someone, you will have to stand trial. If you call someone a fool, you will be taken to court. And if you say that someone is worthless, you will be in danger of the fires of hell” (Matthew 5:21-22 CEV). Love respects life. If we believe God is the Creator of life, we respect His creations. When Jesus was speaking to the crowd of people about having anger in their heart towards others insulting them, He was pointing out that murder begins in the heart. Recently I watched a 20/20 show about two people who sought out “Murder for Hire”. The woman shared how every night she would lay in her bed and ponder, over and over, ways she could kill the woman she hated. It consumed her thoughts. This is why Jesus went on to say: “If you are presenting a sacrifice at the altar in the Temple and you suddenly remember that someone has something against you, leave your sacrifice there at the altar. Go and be reconciled to that person. Then come and offer your sacrifice to God” (Matthew 5:23-24 NLT). We must love others enough to take care of our issues quickly.

3-Say no to adultery. “As the Scriptures say, ‘A man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.’ This is a great mystery, but it is an illustration of the way Christ and the church are one. So again I say, each man must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband” (Ephesians 5:31-33 NLT)). Love is committed to the one you marry. Loving our neighbors as we love ourselves leaves lust in the dust. Jesus told us not to even look in the direction of another with lust in our heart (Matthew 5:28). Families are broken when a spouse begins to wander and allows the lies of the enemy to convince them happiness can only be found in another. We’ve forgotten how to serve one another out of love. Many couples have this read at their wedding: “love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance” (1 Corinthians 13:4-8 NLT). Yet the same couples fail to follow this example in their marriage; they forgot to commit to the covenant spoken between them.

4-Don’t steal.  “If you are a thief, quit stealing. Instead, use your hands for good hard work, and then give generously to others in need.” (Ephesians 4:28 NLT). Love gives; it doesn’t take. When we love others as ourselves, we don’t steal from one another. It seems as though lately, the nightly news is filled with stories of yet another company who has been the victim of a security breach, causing great concern over the safety of confidential information. Wouldn’t it be awesome if those who worked so intently on hacking into secure, private information desired, instead, to put their knowledge to good works?  Rather than working to steal, work hard and give to others! Love doesn’t steal what wasn’t worked for.

5- Don’t lie about your neighbor. “So stop telling lies. Let us tell our neighbors the truth, for we are all parts of the same body” (Ephesians 4:25 NLT). Love doesn’t spread untruth about anyone. When we love others as ourselves we don’t lie about them In fact, as a Child of God, there really is no need to lie at all. One of the seven things the Lord detests is “lying lips”(Proverbs 6:17). Lies lead to bondage because a small lie, leads to another lie, to another and so on. A little white lie is still a lie. An exaggeration is a lie. Any untruth is a lie. Love doesn’t lie to others, about others, or for others. Love speaks the truth in a loving manner.

6- Don’t want what belongs to others. “Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you’” (Hebrews 13:5 ESV). Love does not envy others. We love our neighbors when we rejoice in their success and let go of the envy we might feel over what they have. Envy and jealousy go hand in hand and Proverbs 27:4 asks: “Anger is cruel and fury overwhelming, but who can stand before jealousy?” (NIV). Always wanting what others have causes you to view them through critical eyes instead of loving eyes. Love is contentment with what you have. Are you content?

Before you can love others, you must first have a healthy love for yourself.  Not a boastful, arrogant love, based on pride, but a love based on the knowledge and understanding of who you are in Christ and HIs love for you. When you recognize how deeply God loves you, then you can and will love others in the way God has purposed you to do.  So when we wonder what love has to do with it;  we know the answer is simply, everything.

"So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other" (John 13:34 NLT). 

I noticed the other day, as I read the Gospel account of Jesus' answering the question posed to Him by the “expert in Jewish law” as to which commandment was the most important, that my mind immediately drifted to the song released by Tina Turner in 1984, What’s Love Got to Do with It. And once I started singing it, I simply couldn't stop. I hummed it the rest of the day. I also found myself asking Him the question, "What does love have to do with it?" after reading His answer. 

"One of them, an expert in religious law, tried to trap him with this question: “Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?” Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments” (Matthew 22:35-40 NLT).  

It took me a good many years before I understood that if you look closely at the Ten Commandments God handed down to Moses, the first four pertain to our relationship with God. They show us how we can love Him with all of our heart, soul and mind. The next six show us how we can love others as we love ourselves.

Check out the first four….
1- Have no other gods but Him. “For thus says the Lord, Who created the heavens, Who is God, Who formed the earth and made it, Who has established it, Who did not create it in vain, Who formed it to be inhabited: ‘I am the Lord, and there is no other’” (Isaiah 45:18 NKJV). Love believes in the One True God and all He has done.
2- Do not make for yourself an idol.  “You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods” (Exodus 20:5a NLT). Love worships the One True God and Him only.
3- Do not misuse His name. “You shall not use or repeat the name of the Lord your God in vain [that is, lightly or frivolously, in false affirmations or profanely]; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain” (Exodus 20:7 AMP). Love honors the Lord by respecting His name.
4-Remember to keep a Sabbath day for Him.  “You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the Lord your God. On that day no one in your household may do any work” (Exodus 20 9-10a NLT). Love dedicates a day of Sabbath to the Lord.

So, the question Tina asked, “What’s love got to do with it?” was answered when Jesus responded to the lawyer that the greatest commandment could be summed up in a word; love. If we love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, we believe that He is the One True God. While some seek to find faith in other gods, a Christ-follower has no need to search beyond God and His Word.

If we love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, we refuse to worship any other idol. Buddha doesn’t sit on our shelf, nor do I give people or things a higher place in my life than God has. Money can become an idol, as can children, a spouse or career. Sin becomes an idol when we refuse to surrender it to Christ. 

Loving God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength places His name in such high esteem and regard that we would never speak it disrespectfully. I love how the Amplified Version clarifies this for us: “that is, lightly or frivolously, in false affirmations or profanely.” We are careless with the Lord’s name. We cuss and swear and use His name to vent our frustrations and anger, with absolutely no regard for the third commandment. We must not use His name lightly, frivolously, profanely or with false affirmations. Remember, He knows your heart.

Loving God with all that is within me makes me willing to set aside a day for Him. Sunday is our day. We attend church and honor Him with that day. There are some Sundays when we go to church and do absolutely nothing the rest of the day; there are some days when a little work does get done, but it always gets done after we have spent our morning in fellowship with other believers. Go to church. Give him a few hours on a Sunday morning. Make the Sabbath day an important day because you love Him.

Take a quick look at these four Commandments and ask yourself how well you are living out the first Commandment. Do you love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul, mind and strength? How would you rate each of these with 1- “I need to work on this” to 10- “I’ve got this down?”

Next week we will check out the remaining six Commandments, but for now, as we get ready to celebrate Valentine's Day with the one we love, let’s remember that L is for Love, and love believes, worships, honors and dedicates.  

Last week we began looking at David’s defeat of the giant Goliath. Have you started asking the Lord for direction in slaying the giants in your life? I hope you are beginning to seek answers to the questions,“What will I get for killing this giant in my life and ending its defiance against me?” and “Who is this giant anyway, that I allow to challenge me, a Child of the Living God?” I'd like to share a few more observations I discovered while reading through the story of David and Goliath.

When David asked about the giant, his older brother ridiculed him. “Why did you come down here? And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness” (vs. 28)? “Those few sheep.” I can read between the lines. He was saying, “Who do you think you are? You are nothing but a little boy who takes care of sheep, a few sheep at that. And what makes you think you have any right or experience being here?” (I wonder… could it be Eliab’s biggest fear was not his little brother facing Goliath in battle, but rather, fear that he, and the others, would look bad because they lacked the courage to face him themselves?)

This is the voice that often will come from those we love and hold most dear. It’s the voice that ridicules your dreams and asks “Why do you think you have a right to face this giant? Who are you to think you are equipped, able or strong enough to battle this giant? What qualifies you?”  I have heard this voice through friends who meant well, but insisted I stop dreaming. I once heard the voice tell me I was an anchor around my husband’s neck. The voice spoke when God placed me in positions within the church others felt I wasn’t qualified for. “Why you? What qualifies you? Who do you think you are?” The voice can speak through others who insist, “you will never change.” 

David didn’t allow his brothers’ mockery to stop him from pursuing Goliath. I’ve allowed negative thoughts to convince me I wasn’t able; unlike David, who was persistent enough to eventually grab the King’s attention. When the King doubted whether David was able, David explained who he was, including every way the Lord had already rescued him. How has the Lord already been faithful to you in prior situations? Be persistent; don’t allow the voices of doubt to hold you hostage to the giant.

When Saul tried to fit David with his armor, David knew right away he couldn’t wear it; the armor wasn’t made for David, it was made for Saul. David picked up five smooth stones, his staff and his sling. He then proceeded to tell Goliath: “You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied”(1 Samuel 17:45). We must remember that God equips us for our specific battles, no one else.  Don’t try to wear the armor of another. Don’t use anything other than what God has equipped you with to fight the giant and has He ever equipped us!  Just look at our armor He has provided: “Stand your ground, putting on the belt of truth and the body armor of God’s righteousness. For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News so that you will be fully prepared. In addition to all of these, hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil. Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:14-17 NLT).

And then you have the army. “When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they turned and ran” (vs. 51 NLT). An entire army stood behind Goliath, and when he was taken out, so were they. They felt extremely brave as long as they had Goliath standing in front of them. Once they saw him fall, they fell too. If David had looked at Goliath and then the army behind him, he might have felt outnumbered. But he didn’t look at the army; he kept his focus on the big guy --the one doing all the talking.  How often do we see the giant, hear the threats of the giant, and then peek around at the “army” standing behind the giant? The army of all the “bad things” that could happen if we try to slay the giant. If I confront ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­________________, then ________________ might happen. If I try to challenge _________________ then ____________________ could happen. God began to expose to me, years ago, that admitting I was wrong was a huge giant for me. There were times I could be as wrong as the day is long, but I refused to believe it or acknowledge it. While that giant stood before me, taunting me in my pride, I would peek around to the army of “what will people think of me if I confess I was wrong” that stood behind the giant.  Perhaps it’s just time to face the giant and take your eyes off of the “might happen, could happen or what will people think” army that stands behind the giant. When you find yourself challenged by a giant, don’t look at the army of what-ifs that stand behind. Keep your focus on the giant, take our your sling and stone, and get ready for battle.  

“And everyone assembled here will know that the Lord rescues his people, but not with sword and spear. This is the Lord’s battle, and he will give you to us” (vs. 47). The truth found in God’s Word is gifted to us; this is our stone, and faith is our shield. When we hide the Word in our heart, we are able to pull it out, place it within the sling, and cast it upon the giant’s taunt.  Don’t wait: “As Goliath moved closer to attack, David quickly ran out to meet him”(vs.48). We need to do the same—move out quickly, without hesitation, and confront the giant that dares to defy the servant of the Living God. 

What is your giant telling you? I’m sure it isn’t this…V is for Victory. “But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:57 NKJV).  God is the One telling you that. Are you running towards the victory or hiding behind fear?