A relational barrier

'' Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.''


Not everyone agrees on what love means or how it works.
Life is not easy, and neither is loving.
But love is the issue. It's the heart of how we are intended to relate to each other and to God.
The Bible says that love is hard work, takes sacrifice, and demands that we live out our tough side as well as our sentimental side. Of course, the Bible assumes we want real love, deep love —— not just some temporary emotional high.


When we understand that real love is the issue, then we look at sin not merely as a wrong act but as a relational barrier. Sin gets in the way of loving God. Sin changes our abilities to connect with God.


When we understand that, let's us aim to do whatever we can in God's strength to keep those barriers out of life. That's why God gave us his commandments, which are not just about us, but about God with us. What we do with those commandments shows how serious our love are.