Our theme for the next ten weeks is:
“Understanding the Importance of the Order of Things.” | Part One
The order of things can be so important. In English idiom we talk of “Putting the cart before the horse.” The horse pulls the cart; the cart does not pull the horse.
Putting shoes on before socks would be strange. Putting on clothes before showering is not the norm.
In mathematics there is an “order of operations” – get the order wrong and you will arrive at an incorrect conclusion.
Jesus says:
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” [1]
Note the order – one is first and one is second. We have a twenty first century problem in thinking that they are equal in standing, or worse, that the order should be reversed.
Augustine Aurelius (later to be known as Augustine of Hippo) became convinced that what defines a person more than anything else is what they love.
His thinking progressed to realising that human problems arise from a lack of love. He observed that the heart’s loves have an order to them, and that we often love less important things more and the more important things less. Therefore, the unhappiness and disorder of our lives are caused by loving wrongly or having our loves in the wrong order.
People often quote Augustine as having said,
“Love God, and do whatever you please.”
This is only part of his statement and can lead to a conclusion that it doesn’t matter how we live life. Augustine made this statement when preaching on 1 John 4:4-12, where John calls us to love, because love is of God, and because God first loved us.
Augustine’s full quotation was:
“Love God and do whatever you please: for the soul trained in love to God will do nothing to offend the One who is Beloved.”
This is powerful. If we know the love of God, we will love God and this truth will drive every aspect of our living.
Augustine concluded that “The essence of sin is disordered love.”
Augustine pointed out that what we consider human virtues, for example: courage, honesty and truth are essentially forms of love. Courage is loving your neighbour’s well-being more than your own safety. Honesty is loving someone enough to tell them the truth even if it may put you at a disadvantage.
The only way that we can exercise these virtues is if knowing the love of God for us and loving God because He first loved us. This love will overflow into the lives of others. This is the correct order of loving.
Blessings
Brian
Can you think of examples of “disordered love” in your own life?
What are the common “disordered loves” in the lives of our students?
[1] Matthew 22:37-39