When reading through my article on a theology of risk, a friend spotted a fascinating typo. I had intended to write
“One way in which I love God with my whole heart is by loving my neighbour as myself”
Instead I’d written:
“One way in which I love God with my whole heart is by loving my saviour as myself”
I’m not sure what had caused the slip but I had of course written something that was still true and still important. If I love God, then I must love my saviour. It’s obvious and important because loving Jesus must include recognising and honouring him for exactly who he is. Therefore, Trinitarian beliefs are more than just a bit of doctrine but a crucial aspect of practical love for God and worship.
Rejecting Jesus as saviour is also to reject something about the character of God. It is to deny that he is compassionate, merciful and gracious. Furthermore, if God did not send the Son, then we cannot call him “Father.”
And furthermore, loving my saviour as myself is exactly how I love my neighbour as myself. I believe it is no accident that when Jesus told the parable of the Samaritan, people would readily see the application both as a challenge to be like the Samaritan as the true neighbour to the victim but also as a pointer to Jesus who is the true and better good Samaritan, the true and better neighbour who steps in to rescue us when we have been beaten up and robbed by sin, Satan and death.
Then there is the point where Jesus addresses the two groups on the last day. One group are surprised to hear Jesus say that they fed and clothed him when he was in need, the other group are surprised to discover that they didn’t. Jesus’ punchline is that when they showed love or failed to show love to the least of their brothers and sisters – in other words, their neighbours then they were choosing whether or not to love him.
Loving my saviour, finally, is the obvious and instinctive response to the truth that he first loved me.
Faithroots 