Someone once asked Jesus which commandment he thought was the most important.
His reply is one of the most famous and oft-quoted passages in the Bible. Quoting from Deuteronomy and Leviticus, he replied, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Love, Jesus said, is the answer. Love God wholly (mind, body and soul) and love others as God’s own creatures. Once you understand and grasp love and truly love, everything else will flow from there.
It makes perfect sense when you think about it. A person that actually loves will not want to steal (commandment 8) or deceive (commandment 9). He will not want to take a life wantonly (commandment 6). She will want to remain faithful (commandment 7) and honor her parents (commandment 5). Being joyful and glad for what others have (commandment 10) and keeping the Lord in mind (commandments 1-3) will also come easily if love is truly a part of a person’s psychological makeup. Love makes us naturally obey God’s commandments.
Love is also what kept Jesus on the cross. To this day, at age 32, it still humbles and amazes me that the first words out of Jesus’ mouth was a plea of forgiveness for those who nailed him to the cross. “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing.” Even as he hung on the cross, he loved so much that he asked for forgiveness for those who were responsible for killing him!
When we look at the cross, why do we find it so hard to love, actually love? The Bible makes it so clear, so black-and-white: we’re to love EVERYONE for they are God’s very own creations. Instead of listening to the Greatest Two Commandments and look at people through God’s eyes, we constantly try to invent reasons and ways not to love, many of them petty, selfish, and legalistic. Jesus couldn’t have made it clearer: Love God and love others. That’s it. There are absolutely no exclusions, no prejudices, no racial, sexual, behavioral, regional exception to that rule. This is what everything else stands on.
So on this Valentine’s Day, let’s get rid of the “ands, ifs, buts” and just love; actually, truly, really love our Father and all the other beautiful humans He made.
– Matt
commandmentGodJesusloveneighborTen CommandmentsValentine's Day
Actually Love
February 14, 2013
Calvary
Comments Off on Actually Love
Matt
Someone once asked Jesus which commandment he thought was the most important.
His reply is one of the most famous and oft-quoted passages in the Bible. Quoting from Deuteronomy and Leviticus, he replied, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Love, Jesus said, is the answer. Love God wholly (mind, body and soul) and love others as God’s own creatures. Once you understand and grasp love and truly love, everything else will flow from there.
It makes perfect sense when you think about it. A person that actually loves will not want to steal (commandment 8) or deceive (commandment 9). He will not want to take a life wantonly (commandment 6). She will want to remain faithful (commandment 7) and honor her parents (commandment 5). Being joyful and glad for what others have (commandment 10) and keeping the Lord in mind (commandments 1-3) will also come easily if love is truly a part of a person’s psychological makeup. Love makes us naturally obey God’s commandments.
Love is also what kept Jesus on the cross. To this day, at age 32, it still humbles and amazes me that the first words out of Jesus’ mouth was a plea of forgiveness for those who nailed him to the cross. “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing.” Even as he hung on the cross, he loved so much that he asked for forgiveness for those who were responsible for killing him!
When we look at the cross, why do we find it so hard to love, actually love? The Bible makes it so clear, so black-and-white: we’re to love EVERYONE for they are God’s very own creations. Instead of listening to the Greatest Two Commandments and look at people through God’s eyes, we constantly try to invent reasons and ways not to love, many of them petty, selfish, and legalistic. Jesus couldn’t have made it clearer: Love God and love others. That’s it. There are absolutely no exclusions, no prejudices, no racial, sexual, behavioral, regional exception to that rule. This is what everything else stands on.
So on this Valentine’s Day, let’s get rid of the “ands, ifs, buts” and just love; actually, truly, really love our Father and all the other beautiful humans He made.
– Matt
Share this:
commandmentGodJesusloveneighborTen CommandmentsValentine's Day