Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Faith and love

Why is it that Jesus praised people's faith far more than He praised people for their love?

Take the gospel of Matthew for example. There are so many accounts of Jesus evaluating a person's faith.

'You of little faith '; ' I have never seen such great faith ' etc.

Why didn't Jesus find and commend people who were showing love to other people?

Paul tells us that faith, hope and love remain -  yet the greatest of these is love (1 Corinthians 13).

Similarly,  Jesus commands the love of God and the love of others as the pre-eminent commandments. He doesn't command faith in God as the 'Greatest Commandment'.

Yet perhaps having faith in God is a way to love God. Perhaps total reliance on God is a pure form of love for Him. Perhaps having utter belief in God's character and personality is the best way we can love God.

Jesus Himself defined love for God as obedience (John 14). Faith's principal ingredient is obedience.

Perhaps faith and love are synonymous.

What if loving God means trusting Him to the uttermost?

And what if the reverse were true? That failing to trust God denies us the claim that we love Him?

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