There is a lot of talk about love these days, especially in the romantic sense. We live in a culture that is saturated with movies (which are generally all about love and relationships) and music (also about love and relationships) which convey the sense that this is something that we feel, a dreamy fairytale-like state-of-mind where all of life is hunk-dory, and prince charming flies in to sweep us of our feet and save the day!

In Scripture, however, we find the Divine foundation for love and the Biblical definition of love. Like Christ says in Matthew 22:37-40, the great commandment is to love God with all our heart, soul, and mind; and the second is to love our neighbor as ourself. In one sense, Jesus Himself is affirming the Old Testament mosaic law, (Deut.6:5) to love God with all our heart, soul and might, confirming that he came not to abolish the law but to fulfill it.

As we read God’s words in Deuteronomy 6, we find that the primary message is obedience to God, and not “love” per se. Notice such words like commandments, statutes, and rules (NIV: commands, decrees, laws) are prominent, and how obedience to these commandments, statutes, and rules is emphasized.

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