Last night on the radio, someone was talking about advertisements. He said advertisers try to evoke one of two emotions from viewers, fear or love. The easiest emotion to evoke is fear. But, it takes a lot of effort and time to evoke love. So, that’s why a lot of things in the media are negative. It’s much easier to get results by provoking fear.
Then, I was thinking about God and us. What God chose to try to evoke from us is primarily love. The number one commandment is to love God, not fear God (though fearing God is also important).
Matthew 22:37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38This is the first and great commandment. 39And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 40On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
God chose to go down the hard path, not the easy path. It would be easy for God to evoke fear from us. But to get us to love Him, it’s a slow and extremely risky path. We can ignore His love, spurn Him, reject Him, and take it for granted. And most all of us do at least one of these things.
What is God’s plan on how to get us to love Him? He showers His love on us, hoping that one day we will reciprocate. He gives us life, beauty, free will, pleasures, and most of all, His Son to allow us to get into heaven.
I John 4:19 We love him, because he first loved us.
Love is the hardest emotion to get from somebody. But it is also the highest rewarding. We can survive without many other things, but to go through life not loving another and nobody loving you is not living at all. People everywhere seek this one thing more than any other thing. How many songs and poems and movies are about getting more money, possessions, or fear? Very little. But it seems like all songs and movies have an element of love in it.
Love is the one great need in everybodys’ hearts. Yet, it is also the hardest to find. And the hardest to get. So, that is why Jesus said:
John 13:35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.
When someone on the outside sees a group that truly loves one another, he has found a rare thing. It is a special find to see a group that achieved the hardest thing to evoke. And to find a group that is meeting the deepest need of peoples’ hearts.