Love the Lord: The First Commandment

A little more than a week ago, I sat through 2 lunch periods at the junior high as an adult supervisor to the student council who sold Valentine flowers—red real roses or chocolate roses—to the students. Business was fairly brisk that day I was there. What amused me were the sentiments and motivations the kids expressed as they purchased these yet-to-be-delivered-surprises.  Some were very friendly and just wanted their platonic friend to receive a token of love, knowing someone remembered them on Valentine’s Day.  Others may have been sappy and mushy sounding to you and me, but they were motivated, in true junior high dramatic fashion, by the feelings within their little hormone raging hearts.  Yet others were sent anonymously and many of those merely wished the recipient a standard ‘Happy Valentine’s Day’.  I wasn’t there to witness the responses and outcomes of these little Valentine’s Day messages and flowers.  But I am sure that they were welcomed and helped to create a lot of smiles and warmed hearts.

But love is more than one day in February.  And it is more than a reason for Junior High students to recognize their dearest friends, hope for pre-mature romantic attachments, or to stir up mystery.  Real love, true, deep, lasting, eternal love, is God given.  And it is what He asks of each of us.

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf taught us,

“When asked to name the greatest commandment, [the Savior] did not hesitate. ‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind,’ He said. ‘This is the first and great commandment.’ Coupled with the second great commandment—to love our neighbor as ourselves—we have a compass that provides direction not only for our lives but also for the Lord’s Church on both sides of the veil.

“Because love is the great commandment, it ought to be at the center of all and everything we do in our own family, in our Church callings, and in our livelihood. Love is the healing balm that repairs rifts in personal and family relationships. It is the bond that unites families, communities, and nations. Love is the power that initiates friendship, tolerance, civility, and respect. It is the source that overcomes divisiveness and hate. Love is the fire that warms our lives with unparalleled joy and divine hope. Love should be our walk and our talk.

“When we truly understand what it means to love as Jesus Christ loves us, the confusion clears and our priorities align. Our walk, as disciples of Christ, becomes more joyful. Our lives take on new meaning. Our relationship with our Heavenly Father becomes more profound. Obedience becomes a joy rather than a burden.”

President Benson expressed it this way:

“The great test of life is obedience to God.

 “The great task of life is to learn the will of the Lord and then do it.

“The great commandment of life is to love the Lord.

“To love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength is all-consuming and all-encompassing. It is no lukewarm endeavor. It is total commitment of our very being—physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually—to a love of the Lord.

“Why did God put the first commandment first? Because He knew that if we truly loved Him we would want to keep all of His other commandments.

“When we put God first, all other things fall into their proper place or drop out of our lives. Our love of the Lord will govern the claims for our affection, the demands on our time, the interests we pursue, and the order of our priorities.”

‘To Love the Lord’ is the first and great commandment. As we love Him, we will increase our obedience to His commandments.  As we increase in obedience, we are blessed by Him.  And as we are blessed we find new reasons to love Him.

President Uchtdorf explained further,

“God the Eternal Father did not give that first great commandment because He needs us to love Him.  His power and glory are not diminished should we disregard, deny, or even defile His name.  His influence and dominion extend through time and space independent of our acceptance, approval or admiration….

"No, God does not need us to love Him.  But oh, how we need to love God!  For what we love determines what we seek. And what we seek determines what we think and do. And what we think and do determines who we are—and who we will become."

If we think of all our Heavenly Father has given us, in a count-your-blessings kind of exercise, we will find endless reasons more to love Him.  But if you still need one more little nudge, here is what the Apostle John wrote for us, “We love Him, because He first loved us.”

Each week, the YW stand and repeat the YW theme.  It begins with the declaration that “we are daughters of our Heavenly Father who loves us, and we love Him.”

Sometimes the girls say these words so quickly that they might not register the meaning behind what they are saying.  The familiar statement expresses our role as beloved children of God, and more than that, we profess of our returning love for Him.

When we love the Lord we are willing to “stand as witnesses of God at all times, and in all things, and in all places”.  We choose to become disciples of His son, Jesus Christ.  And discipleship is a pretty big deal.

The Young Women values give us guidelines to focus on as we follow and love the Lord:

Faith—Divine Nature—Individual Worth—Knowledge—Choice & Accountability—Good Works—Integrity—and Virtue

We know that blessings come from loving the Lord, following His Son and utilizing those values in our lives:  “we believe as we come to accept and act upon these values we will be prepared to strengthen home and family, make and keep sacred covenants, receive the ordinances of the temple and enjoy the blessings of exaltation.”  Still more blessings we receive from our loving Heavenly Father.

How do we show our love for the Lord?  How can we increase our love for Him? The Savior answered that one as well.  In John 14:15 it reads “If ye love me, keep my commandments.”  It doesn’t get much clearer than that.

Keeping the commandments is exactly how we become true disciples of Christ.  President Uchtdorf again teaches: 

“We increase our love for our Heavenly Father and demonstrate that love by aligning our thoughts and actions with God’s word.  His pure love directs and encourages us to become more pure and holy.  It inspires us to walk in righteousness—not out of fear or obligation but out of an earnest desire to become even more like Him because we love Him.”

Knowing that our topic came from our stake presidency, I thought about how this commandment fits into our pattern of Becoming Zion.  And immediately I thought of the Nephite people who had seen the risen Savior at the temple in the land Bountiful.  4 Nephi tells us “And it came to pass that there was no contention in the land because of the Love of God which did dwell in the hearts of the people….and surely there could not be a happier people among all the people who had been created by the hand of God.” (vs. 15-16)

Loving the Lord motivated the Nephites to the point that they did nothing that hurt each other, that tore each other down, that led another astray, that offended a brother, or that disappointed a loving parent.  They Loved the Lord and were truly living the second great commandment: to “love thy neighbor as thyself”. I can only imagine what a glorious way of life they had in that society.  And it all boiled down to the commitment that each individual had to Love the Lord, with all their might, mind and strength. Like the Nephites of old, we can choose to follow that same pattern in our families, in our wards and neighborhoods, and in our stake.

I’d like to share a paragraph from a letter from a missionary—one of my six trek boys who are all currently serving full time missions.  With permission, I share this wonderful young Elder’s timely thoughts on this very subject.  He was writing about a conversation he had this past week with his companion, and he says “We also had a good talk about the love of God.  He said something that I think is true about love. ‘We came here on earth to first learn what love is, second to learn how to obtain it, third to learn how to share it, and fourth to learn how to retain it for eternity.’ I haven’t studied too deeply about it yet but love is the chief characteristic of God.  I believe it is the underlining principle of the plan of salvation.  It is the greatest motivation.  Love or charity is greater than all and it has no end.  I don’t know how to explain this but I feel like this past week, I have moved in on the inside.  I feel like I am learning about the gospel from the inside instead of just talking about it from the outside….I look back at my mission and the one thing that underlines it all is learning what the love of God is and how to share it.”

That is what this first and great commandment boils down to—we love the Lord, are obedient to Him, share that love with others and they in turn are able to feel His love for them, leading them to Love Him as well.

President Uchtdorf answers the question “Why Is LOVE the Great Commandment?” with this explanation:

“Heavenly Father’s love for His children is the core message of the plan of happiness, which plan is made active through the Atonement of Jesus Christ—the greatest expression of love the world has ever known.

“How clearly the Savior spoke when He said that every other commandment hangs upon the principle of love. If we do not neglect the great laws—if we truly learn to love our Heavenly Father and our fellowman with all our heart, soul, and mind—all else will fall into place.

“The divine love of God turns ordinary acts into extraordinary service. Divine love is the motive that transports simple words into sacred scripture. Divine love is the factor that transforms reluctant compliance with God’s commandments into blessed dedication and consecration.

“Love is the guiding light that illuminates the disciple’s path and fills our daily walk with life, meaning, and wonder.

“Love is the measure of our faith, the inspiration for our obedience, and the true altitude of our discipleship.

“Love is the way of the disciple.”

In John 14:21 we read:
“He that hath my commandment and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love Him, and will manifest myself unto Him.”

By loving the Lord and committing ourselves to becoming disciples of Jesus Christ gives us the right and responsibility to then “Arise and Shine Forth, that thy light may be a standard for the nations.”  When we choose to obey the First and Great commandment to love the Lord, we will have increased opportunities to show His love to others.  We will be blessed for our obedience.  We will have the desire to lead others to Christ.  And as we do all this, we will have the Lord manifest himself to us through the Holy Ghost.  Then it might also be said of us “surely there could not be a happier people…”