Whispered Words

Some people think I’m a very religious man. I suppose they’re right. There’s really no honest way to deny it, but I hope I’m more than just religious. In today’s terms, being religious carries a negative connotation. I don’t want to be that stereotype. Some have (secretly) looked down on me because of my faith. Others put too much stock in my devotion to God. I’m really just a regular guy with faults and failures like everyone else. Sometimes, in the past (I hope), I’ve come across as rather religiously obnoxious. My apologies. It’s something I’m trying to change.

My family wasn’t a religious family. We didn’t go to church. In fact, we were mostly the opposite of religious. Can you say “dysfunctional”? However, there was one thing that happened that changed everything for me. Read on…

When I was two or three years old, my dad directly impacted the course of my life. He didn’t know that was what he was doing. He was just being a dad, telling his young (and only) son something he thought he should know. A little parental insight at the close of another day.

It was nighttime. Bedtime. I was lying on his hairy chest, resting my head over his heart.

“Mike, the most important thing you can ever do in life is please God.”

I’ve told this story many times over the years. It made the greatest of impressions on my young mind. It pointed me in a direction that I’ve tried to follow ever since, sometimes well and sometimes not so well. It’s something I’ve always tried to live up to; something I’m still trying to live up to. I’m a work in progress, as they say.

At some point though, my brain changed the message slightly:

“Mike, the most important thing you can ever do in life is love God.”

I was shocked when I discovered that my old brain had made this change. Recently, I was looking through some old papers as my wife and I sorted through stuff during a move to a new home. I came across a paper where I’d previously documented the story. It said, “please God” rather than “love God.” Huh. Why did I change it? When did I change it? It was perplexing. Which version is truly accurate? After all, I was three years old at most when I first heard the words. Maybe my first documentation was off, and my subconscious mind fixed it. Who knows?

Then again, does it really matter?

Aren’t they the same thing? Is there a difference between loving God and pleasing God? Can you love God without pleasing him? Can you please God without loving him?

I think the meanings are close, similar, but there is a difference. I think that difference is subtle but important. Maybe not so subtle when you dig into it.

You can love God but be off-base in how you understand him and his expectations, as well as how you express it. Your subsequent lifestyle would end up being displeasing to him. Your attitudes and actions cause him pain. This would be like loving a person (spouse, child, parent) on an emotional level but then being hurtful to them in how to act within the relationship—ignoring, berating, cheating, disrespecting. Specifically, this person would claim to love God but have a lifestyle hurtful to those that God loves—his neighbors, friends, family, others in his life. Or her life. This is a gender-neutral issue.

On the other hand, I think you can please God with your life without really loving him specifically. You do the right things without a bond with the Creator. It would be akin to Romans 2:14 -- ¹⁴ (Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law. ¹⁵ They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them.) You’re doing the right things. Treating others the right way. You’re loving your neighbor, being fair in your dealings, taking care of the needy—all without any respect or knowledge of God the Father. He finds your lifestyle pleasing but he’s missing that bond that comes with love for Him.

You know what I think really lights God’s fire, though? I think it’s when you combine the two greatest commandments into one giant, magnificent, over-arching approach to life. You love God AND you love your neighbor!

³⁷ Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ ³⁸ This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹ And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ⁴⁰ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Matthew 22:37-40

When you love (agape*) God and you love (agape*) your neighbor, you’re combining the two ends of a spiritual rope into one infinite circle that pleases God and loves God in a way that shines through your life and gives light to the world around you. In essence, loving God becomes co-equal with how you treat your neighbor; they become the same thing—one unified way of life.

In our terms, you can love God without pleasing him and you can please God without loving him. However, if you wrap up the two greatest commandments into one interconnected package, you will also find that loving God and pleasing God becomes one and the same thing. Jesus confirms this perspective in his “Sheep & Goats” message in Matthew 25. Check it out.

So, as you read my various ramblings and postings or listen to my LOVEmentalism Podcast, this is who I am endeavoring to be. At the end of the day, this is the motivation for the things I write and the things I say in my blog and on social media. This is who I want to be, not yet having truly arrived. That’s it. I have no other agenda. It’s not political; not Republican or Democrat, not MAGA or Left-wing. I’m just trying to live up to those words my Dad whispered in my ear so many years ago. I’m simply trying to love/please God with my life and invite you to join me on the journey.

* Agape (ah-gah-pey) – A biblical Greek word translated to “love” in English but that carries an active and action-centric, others-focused, unselfish or self-denying connotation in the heart of its meaning.