The first commandment \u2013 satisfaction of God’s ego or a greater wisdom behind it?<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The first commandment: “Love your God, with all your heart, and all your mind, and all your soul”. To a casual unbeliever this may seem typically selfish of God. A jealous God, as he admits himself to be in the Old Testament, who demanded that no Israelite pledge allegiance to or worship any other God \u2013 otherwise they suffer strict consequences. But on closer examination the reasoning is not as simple as it may first appear. In fact, I’d say it’s a difficult concept to explain, especially because I myself have not been able to dedicate myself to this measure. But I shall try (to explain what I can, and dedicate myself to full measure).<\/p>\n
It gets down to the entire concept of what God is and his relationship with us. In the first few lines of the bible God describes how he was hovering over the sea of humanity and saw how darkness enveloped it. Without God’s breath in our lives there would be no spirituality in the world, no faith, and it would be a much different place. If humankind were left on its own, to worship whatever it wants \u2013 be it money, itself, pride, or some god of adultery without morals \u2013 we would certainly become even more ultra selfish than what seems to abound today. If everyone were to pursue their own selfish gain like the animal of survival that we are, there would be no compassionate soul who would speak on behalf of the weak. After all, it is only natural that some in a race or species are stronger than others. Survival of the fittest. If that was the reign of rule there would be much more suffering than there is already now. A dark power would rise like under Hitler, which would simply eradicate and eliminate these weak, so that the stronger could live a more comfortable life.<\/p>\n
But this is not the only reason why God demands our allegiance to him. When God was hovering over humanity and said “Let there be light, and saw that this was good,” He saw that his love and spiritual injection into our hearts yielded good fruits. Not good fruits for God, for what can we possibly give to God, a spiritual creature, which can benefit him? But fruits in terms of goodness and the effect that love has on the way we behave, or the joy of our hearts. You can imagine it like sunlight falling on a wilted garden. Without the sunlight each of us might ravenously struggle for our own survival and well being, where with the sunlight we display compassion and a mutual love for one another.<\/p>\n
So God saw that the injection of his loving spirit into our hearts had a good effect on us, and in his judgement it was a good thing overall. And because God is a Spirit of Love, and would naturally have compassion on all creatures who can feel suffering, he pursued this approach further.<\/p>\n
This is why Jesus preached to offer the other cheek when slapped. During my walk through life I have found that the best way to deal with angry people is to be nice to them. If you let yourself be provoked and act on your pride, it only throws fuel into the fire and you both become like embroiled children fighting over a piece of candy. But when I displayed surrender, compassion, and took a step further by doing something nice for that person, most often they became speechless, their anger melted away, and eventually became like tame puppies, who wanted to learn the secrets of “this way”. After all, at the end of the day that little piece of candy might stimulate some sugar-responding sensors on our tongue and give us some sense of pleasure, but it does not contribute anything to our long lasting happiness. Once that candy is dissolved we become the same unsatisfied creature who just wants more, more, more. Without the love of God in my life and his unfathomable display of grace and compassion, I simply could not be bothered to show an act of kindness to someone who were acting aggressively against me. By responding to God’s love and making the effort to follow his ways, eventually I can see the wisdom and the good fruits my sacrificing measures may have on people around me. But without the spiritual injection of that initial love, there would be no profit for myself. On my own, why should I sacrifice myself, and offer the other cheek, and suffer humiliation, just to gain some future benefit from the long term affects such behaviour might have to pacify a proud brute? After all, I certainly am not weak. Without God’s principle I would rather seek instant gratification and use my strength and resources to wrestle that candy from the brute’s hand. And go much further than that. In such a world we would all be embroiled in hatred, the weak would be shuffled to the side, where they would be exploited, whither and die, and the world would be a very different place.<\/p>\n
Therefore, having seen that his love had a good effect on us, God would naturally pursue this principle further. Being a spiritual entity of love, if he saw that his initial act of sacrifice and the pouring out of his spirit onto us yielded, for us, good fruits, why would he stop there? Would he just rain down his spirit from above, see some good effect, and if a certain percentage of us did not respond favourably to that stimulus but continue aggressively and selfishly in their behaviour, working against his plan of overall good and happiness for all, should he just leave it at that and say, “Well, that’s the way the ball bounced and I’ll let nature take its own course from here”? If his first gracious act was motivated by love and he saw that “it was good”, would it not make sense that he would pursue this approach to the end? God is not like us, who might respond favourably to his light, try to do some good but at a certain point come to the conclusion: “Well, I think I sacrificed myself enough, so now I can sit back and enjoy myself a little and allow some gratification to my natural, selfish instincts.” What selfish instincts could God possibly possess and want to satisfy anyway? Does he have a physical tongue he might want to satisfy with the sweet flavour of candy? Is he burdened with a physical body which seeks to satisfy its natural sexual urges for the propagation and survival of a species? You do not understand the nature and character of God if you think this may be possible. No, once seeing that our souls and overall behaviour has responded positively to his initial impetus, being a spiritual entity of love, it would only make sense that he would pursue this approach, like the rays of a sun pursue at light speed the deepest darkness of the universe.<\/p>\n
The more God pursues the deepest darkest corners of our hearts and the more that he sees this has a positive effect on us, the more he will pursue this approach. To us, however, who are burdened with our lusts and desires, pride and wants, this uncompromising approach may seem overly demanding and tiring. Maybe it would just be easier to slack off a bit, allow some parts of our hearts to remain in darkness, and gratify ourselves in other ways, even though it may be in direct conflict against the positive effect the Spirit may have on us. It’s a slippery slope, after all. Do we take one part love and nine parts sugar? Where is the balance? God says he would rather us be ice cold than lukewarm, but he loves us anyway, because that is his nature. Obviously, he would rather we were boiling hot more than anything else (boiling hot in terms of our dedication to him and the full and sacrificial opening of our hearts), but this supreme state of Nirvana is not an easy task to achieve for creature like us who are riddled with selfish impulses and desires.<\/p>\n
Another problem is that a certain percentage of people simply do not respond positively to love. The bible speaks in thirds \u2013 the first third responded well, sacrificed themselves and were slaughtered, the second third followed suit afterwards, but the third third simply refused to repent, no matter how much hail may have poured down from heaven. Things can be going well, the spirit and happiness is all fine and dandy, but some have simply chosen to have more, more, and more, just for the thrill of taking that candy from a baby, and the proud satisfaction of having more. And they make the life of the first third more difficult. I can turn and offer my other cheek, swallow my pride and voluntarily subject myself to humility, based on my initial positive response to God’s love and my aspiration to further seek his ways, but others may simply get a great thrill out of slapping my other cheek with the full weight of their hand. To this the bible says we should graciously tolerate such abuse and instead pour out our hearts to such “enemies”, as we are only raining burning sulphur on their heads come judgement day. But is this thought supposed to gratify me? Sometimes I think there must be some ultra master plan why some people, like myself, respond positively to God’s love, while others are adamant to the deepest core of their being why they refuse to repent. I was created a certain way, and it is my duty to suffer humiliation and abuse by the last third and suffer persecution for my testimony regarding the gospel \u2013 I suppose to display this sacrificial love and give no excuse against those who will suffer the consequences of their selfish acts when sulphur does pour down from heaven. This sulphur essentially the product of their own behaviour. After all, it is a fundamental and undeniable law of physics and existence that, for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. So I suppose the reaction to such abuse and greed is being stored up in heaven while those among us who respond positively to God’s love are tested and refined to achieve full fruition and be worthy of the coming harvest.<\/p>\n
In conclusion, God’s first and greatest commandment to love him with all our hearts and all our souls and all our minds is not intended to give any satisfaction to God, but to open our hearts in full bloom to spiritual ways and fully free ourselves from the bonds and lusts of our decaying flesh, or the self-detrimental impulses of our pride and natural instinct for survival, and the endless pursuit of “more, more, more”. The hungry animal who fears death and hordes nuts in an endless growing pile while its neighbour dies starving and helpless next to it. God sees that his love has a positive effect on our hearts, so he wants all of it. Not to satisfy his own pride or to serve an ego which feeds on an increasing number of worshippers, but simply to pursue the last dark corners of our hearts like a beam of light which bends its way through a cave because it feels the joy and sees the response from the recipient every time a new passage and crevice is filled with the glory. God’s uncompromising stance for our dedication and surrender is not for his own selfish glory, but his fist clenches the hard, proud clay of our hearts because he knows that crushing it to powder (forcing on us humility), mixed in with water (his love) can lead to the harvest of a full, spiritual being, and to our ultimate benefit, in the big scheme of things. This is where faith falls into play. We who sacrifice ourselves and suffer humility may not see the wisdom behind all of God’s actions, but we have responded positively to his initial act of love and pursue this faith based on such positive experience. So is the turning of our cheek, subjection to humility and display of sacrifice intended to melt the hearts of the angry and make this world a nicer place to live in? After all, the second commandment is similar to the first \u2013 which is to love those around us in the same way. I do not see everything like God does, but from my experience I only know that God is good and hence I pursue his ways further, and learn to accept willingly the force of his hand, as it crushes whatever hard clay of pride it may find.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"