“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” Dt6.4-5 (ESV)
There are many things to love in life and it is possible, at least in the present state, that our love for them may run in competition with our love for God. Now this happens when our love for God is not first and foundational to all other loves. When our love for Him is the basis for all other loves we can hardly love them enough. Our problem is not loving people or even animals too much. The sin is that we love God too little. When we love Him with all our heart and seek Him as no other, we will find ourselves loving others more. And, not only will we love them to a greater degree, our love will be a wiser, and better love. The reason is that our love for God will shape all other loves in excellence. If we love anything or anyone more than we love God, we are in truth, not seeking what is best and in the end, we will not be loving them at all. If God is not first in our affections, then all other affections will come to ruin.
C. S. Lewis put it this way, "When I have learnt to love God better than my earthly dearest, I shall love my earthly dearest better than I do now.... When first things are put first, second things are not suppressed but increased."
Augustine described it thus, “We love thee too little, when we love anything together with thee, that we do not love because of thee.”
We can be assured that when God commands us to love Him with our all, He is not telling us to love others less. He desires that all our loves grow out of, are directed and supported by a unique, one of a kind love for Him. 2/1/07 ts
Just me trying to be honest with God.
