All Your Commands

All Your Commands

“May my tongue sing of your promise, for all your commandments are righteous.” Psalm 119:172

We do not often think of “commandments” as a reason for singing. I cannot recall any Top 20 songs recounting the joys of speed limits or lyrics happily recalling a summer of shoplifting restraint. Perhaps that is the reason that even as followers of Jesus we do not always see the commands of God as reason to rejoice.

Yet the Psalmist insists that God’s commands cause his lips to “pour forth” with praise (verse 171). A colorful verb in the Hebrew, it is a picture of a bubbling spring of water. He wants us to see him with beautiful words spilling over because of the wonders of God’s commands.

I am sure the majority of Christians, liberal or conservative, would say they believe the commands of Jesus to hold great weight. We all agree in principle, don’t we? Who wouldn’t want people to love their neighbors as themselves, to be peacemakers, to offer aid to “the least of these” and to refrain from judging? We believe we are called to bless our enemies, to pray for them, to seek reconciliation and to do good works that Father God might be glorified.

Unfortunately, we are sometimes very inconsistent in our personal obedience to the same words we claim are so important. If we hold something against even one person, we are not obeying the command to love our neighbor as ourselves. Jesus meant for us to treat other people with at least the same care we treat ourselves. Very few of us think twice about the normal care of our own lives.

As important as it may be to learn to “love ourselves”, I’m not sure that was Jesus’ emphasis when He talked about loving our neighbors “as ourselves” He was quoting from the same Old Testament that our Psalm-writer knew. (Leviticus 19:18). The message is plain and clear: treat other people with at least the same care you give to yourself. Yet, we will give every reason in the world to not have to obey this clear command in the one or two difficult relationships we may have.

May I suggest that those are the very situations we must obey this command! As Jesus says, even the “pagans” know how to love their friends. Think with me, how often when Christians have an issue with each other, instead of obeying Jesus’ command, and trying to find a way of resolution, they simply walk away.

My heart goes out to every Jesus-follower who has had another Christian walk out of their life because of some conflict. Instead of the pain inflicted because we didn’t think it was all that important to obey in this one situation, we could be sowing joy! Think about the sweet songs that would rise from our hearts when relationships are mended. Consider the effect on the world around us when they see the church learning to love first, putting disagreement aside, and obeying Jesus as our Master first.

As one blogger put it recently, “It is a strange interpretation of Scripture that insists the passages about women submitting in the church are hard and fast, but when it comes to loving our enemy, we will find this command full of nuance.” In other words, we insist on a strong application of one Scripture, yet, when it comes to Jesus’ own words about loving our enemies, we can find lots of loopholes.

What loopholes in the commands of Jesus have you tried to find? What if our first response was always this: “Wonderful Jesus, this is hard! But, You are the One who has commanded it. I have committed to follow You. Please teach me the joy of obeying. Let me see every one of Your commands as good. Show me, today, how to put into practice the commands which I profess to love.”

Dear ones, the world waits to see the Church rise up as humble servants of Jesus Himself. Let us devote ourselves anew to the joy of obeying the sweetest words ever known to man. Let us, without searching for loopholes, love people at least as much as we love ourselves. Let us, without excuse, love our enemies, any kind of enemy! And above all, let us do the hard work of reconciliation; doing our best to follow Jesus who reconciled all things to Himself on the cross.