Is it possible to consider love as Jesus did without considering God first and foremost? He explicitly stated that the First Commandment is to love God with all your heart and mind and soul, and the Second like unto it, to love your neighbor as yourself. To take the Second and leave out the First might be a good human sentiment, but it leads to “confusion worse confounded” in Christian teaching and practice.
As reported in a recent news article, a prominent politician spoke about the Ordo Amoris, the order of love (from Roman Catholic teaching): “There is a Christian concept that you love your family and then you love your neighbor, and then you love your community, and then you love your fellow citizens in your own country, and then after that, you can focus and prioritize the rest of the world.”
A Jesuit priest took exception to the politician’s view: “Jesus’s fundamental message is that ‘everyone’ is your neighbor, and that it is not about helping just your family or those closest to you. It’s specifically about helping those who seem different, foreign, other. They are all our ‘neighbors.’”
God is nowhere to be found in either of these points of view. What is missing is doing the will of the Father which Jesus emphasized as a prerequisite for doing good works. (Matt 7:21-23) Why is it a prerequisite? Because the worst evil is done in the name of a personal, human, Godless love. Acknowledging God as first and foremost, striving to do His will even when you may not be sure exactly what that will is, is the protection against the devastating effects of pride of life which result from personal, willful action.
Christian teaching and practice that does not make God first and foremost is antichrist because it removes the Christ from Jesus’ teaching and example.
How might we know if we are on the right path?
“We must learn where our affections are placed and whom we acknowledge and obey as God. If divine Love is becoming nearer, dearer, and more real to us, matter is then submitting to Spirit. The objects we pursue and the spirit we manifest reveal our standpoint, and show what we are winning.“ (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, by Mary Baker Eddy)