Love - The Great Commandment Part 2: A Question for Jesus

Verse for Today

 

“Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, “Master, which is the great commandment in the law?” 

 

Jesus said unto him, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” Matthew 22:35-40

 

Reflection

 

Sometimes Jesus taught with parables and stories which the hearer needed to interpret. This teaching through stories often confounded those who listened out of selfish curiosity or sinister motives. They couldn’t understand why he was talking about things like lost coins, scattered seeds, and houses being blown down in a storm.

 

Yet at other times, Jesus’ teaching was crystal clear and couldn’t possibly be misinterpreted. When a lawyer attempted to trick him by asking what the greatest commandment was, it was no time for stories. Jesus answered the question plainly and left no room for any interpretation other than the truth that he spoke.

 

The two greatest commandments are to love. 

 

It may surprise some that the most important commandments given by God are all about love. People often wrongly think of our God as one who sits on high making laws we cannot live by, allowing terrible things to happen, and condemning people to hell. 

 

Yet our God is defined by love, and he says so clearly all over the scriptures, even when talking about laws and commandments.

 

Let’s consider these 2 commandments:

 

  1. The first greatest commandment is to love God completely. Our heart, soul, and mind are to be entirely devoted to loving God. This “agape” love must not come naturally to us, or there would be no need of a commandment to do it.

  • A believer who experiences the love of Christ will love him in return, even if we need to be reminded from time to time in the scriptures.

The second commandment behind loving God is loving others. Jesus says quite plainly that this command is inextricably tied to the first. When we love God, the love for others naturally flows from it.

  • People can be hard to love at times, and loving them may look different depending on circumstances, but it is a commandment that is to be followed.

  • Like loving God, the distractions of the world and sin in our hearts can keep us from doing it, so we need the constant reminders found in the Bible.

 

This love for God and love for others is fundamental to the Christian faith, and it begins with God’s very character. Remember, God is love. His whole being is love, and we cannot be a part of him if we do not have love.

 

Prayer

 

Heavenly father, you have given us your word by which we can know you. Included in that word is the law, a holy and just set of commands which reveal our fallen nature and need for a savior.

 

Jesus tells us in that word that the greatest commandment is to love you with all our heart, soul, and mind. This needs to be a command because so often we fail to do it. I need this commandment because I fail to do it.

 

I confess that I have not loved you with all my heart, soul, and mind. Sometimes I don’t even know what that means. Sometimes I don’t know where to begin. I need your grace to cover me in this shortcoming and to teach me what loving you looks like.

 

The second great commandment is to love others as I love myself. I fail at this one too. Forgive me, Lord, and help me to love the people you put in my path with the love you have shown me. Help me to love others so that they will see you.

 

 

 

Remind me constantly of these two greatest commandments. I know that everything else in my life should flow from these truths. I long to live a life marked by loving you and loving others, but left to my own sinful heart, I will struggle with these commandments.

 

Teach me what it looks like to love you with all my heart, soul, and mind and to love my neighbor like I love myself. I want to be more like Jesus, who loved you and me so much that both of those loves enabled him to endure the cross. It’s in his holy name I pray, Amen.

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