Nature of God's Requirements.
By GEO. C. TENNY.
The apostle says that love is the fulfilling of the law. That is, everything that God requires at our hands springs from this principle. No more noble principle was ever revealed to man, and we can be actuated by no higher motive either in our associations with one another or our devotions to God. It is the law of heaven, and its presence on earth is conducive to the best good of mankind. Where love and benevolence prevail in the place of selfishness, there we find happiness and peace. So God has made this holy principle the standard of all excellence. Our actions must be judged by our motives and no matter how well they may appear they will not be commended if prompted by any other motive than benevolence. This being the nature of love it should be mutual and universal. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Here is infinite love extended to a lost world. We may not restrict it to the comparatively few who accept it, because all may accept and experience it in their own salvation. And because few do avail themselves of this blessing it does not limit the love of God to that few. But perhaps the love which is shown in the life of Christ is as great as that which we receive in his death. What joy and light and comfort we receive by remembering that the Saviour bore all the trials which we have to bear. He did not choose to live among the rich and noble, but for our sake he chose a life of poverty. Not many of us are as poor as he. He was cast off by friends in time of trouble. Not only do we see him shedding tears of sympathy over the death of Lazarus, but we hear his blessed words of comfort, “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.” These are some of the ways in which God, shows his love to us; and when we consider that this is the principle which the Saviour gave as the first great commandment, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind,” we see that this is not an arbitrary requirement but one which exists from the nature of our relations to God. The second principle may be deduced by similar reasoning. But we wish to inquire how can we show our love to God? One answers, By embracing the gospel. Not so. The gospel is God's love to us. 1 John 4:10. By embracing the gospel we accept the love which God extends to us. We dishonor him by refusing to do so. But the only way in which we can show our love to God is by keeping his commandments. 1 John 5:3; Eccl. 12:13. These are embodied in those two precepts which Jesus gave the lawyer, Matt. 22:37-39, and are further delineated in the decalogue given by God himself. Let us consider how great are our obligations to love God who has bestowed such love upon us, and try to reciprocate that love by becoming obedient to all his holy law.