Hoping to have illustrated the To Know vs. the To Know About in the previous installment, to continue in this endeavor is to try and scratch the surface about ‘love’, for when we commune with someone not only we get to know them but additionally it allows us to get to stay in love with them. We all know that long distance relationships; going away to serve in the armed forces or living apart dictated by employment, are the hardest relationships. Why? Because it is extremely difficult to have community with, bond with or to intimately communicate while apart…..  Our relationship with God, although He is always present, is kind of like a long distance relationship.

Love God & Love your neighbor do not only sum up the Bible and how we should live, they are actually the road map to a life of Joy, Peace and Contentment. Who does not want that, right?

In my opinion, we generally believe that we do the ‘Love God’ part well, so we focus on the Love your neighbor part. If you know me personally, or just know about me, you know that I personally work hard on the love your neighbor part, or so I think at least. So I looked at myself and asked; if I think I got the Love God part, like I’ve got it man, and the Love your neighbor part; how much more can I love my neighbor……………  then why am I still searching?

I am a logical person some of the time, OK, OK most of the time, to a fault sometimes 🙂 so here’s my logic; Love your neighbor is palpable and measurable. If I am honest with myself, the ‘Love God’ part is not measurable by itself. LOVE is expressing and not a feeling, love is how one interacts with, love is action.  In actuality when asked; “how do you express that you Love God”, my common responses are;

• Loving my neighbor is an illustration of my love to God
• I pray, read the Bible and involved in church

It is amazing how I can be convinced of something for oh so many years and hold these beliefs like a rock in my hand and use the rock as a cornerstone. Then suddenly the rock just dissipates in between my fingers like sand. Here’s why this happened, at least in my logic;

• Loving my neighbor has its own category and is an expression of loving my neighbor, so I cannot use it as a measure for my love to God category
• Not necessarily prayer, but the way I pray is primarily to ask for things from God
• Reading the Bible is a treasure indeed and essential but again it is more about my continued discovery of God
• Church involvement is like loving my neighbor, it is doing for others

These simple truths made it abundantly clear, to me, that half of the equation for a life of Joy, Peace and Contentment, the ‘love God’ part, is missing, not weak, it is just missing……  I will continue to share thru this self-discovery, and may the glory be to God always       (Please share if you choose to)