To Love God is to Know God

Read: Matthew 22:34-46: Jesus says the greatest and first commandment is “love God” and the second is like it, "love others."

Like mortar to brickwork, prayer and time with God were the source of power out of which Jesus did his wonderful works, his preaching, his friendships, his faithfulness. Prayer - Jesus did not leave home without it. The Bible tells us that Jesus took lonely walks in the mountains, prayed through the night, and kept a constant eye to God the Holy Spirit. If you were to ask him about love for God, he might have said, “How can you love someone you spend no time with? I spend lots of time with God my Father.”

If you were to ask, "What, positively, is the will of God?” I might answer, “To be flower pots. God wants us to grow love.”

“What kind of soil does that take?” you might ask. “Willingness to care for others. Love does not grow out of words alone. It needs exercise or it will have no strength,” I’ll answer.

So you ask, “What kind of exercise?” and I must answer, “set out on the Road of God - and at every hill there will be exercise.”

“Name the hills,” you’ll say. And I shall answer, “Faith, hope, love, compassion, humility, forgiveness, courage, truthfulness, and true joy. These will not be fully yours unless you climb the hills, with your hand tightly clasped in the hand of God.”

“So,” you say, “I will be a flower pot.” And I will answer, “Look - the buds of God are coming out already. Come - let’s feed the poor and preach the Good News!”