Love God! Love Others!

Matthew 22:36-40 (NIV)

“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”  Jesus 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.”

That’s it in a nutshell, “Love God and Love Others!” With all that the world tells us to do and the smorgasbord of commands and directives we try to live by, it’s ironic that God’s most essential desires for our behavior can be summed up in 5 simple words.  “Love God and Love Others!” Isn’t that what’s most important in life: prioritizing God first and others second and maybe ourselves third?

Nowhere is there a mention by Jesus of money or power or control as to being vital to life, just ‘Love and God and Others.’ And Jesus, in succinctly answering one little question, helped all of us today who do not have the mind of God to understand that which is most important to God – love.

Ours is a world today in which we bicker and fight over so many temporary objects and issues, yet God has shown us the better way in scripture. He has told us to not worry so much about the exactness of the commands but to focus instead on the essence of what the commander is getting at – love.

A love which Jesus through his words and actions has given us as the greatest commandments in the law, the essential foundation upon which all the law and Bible are hinged on: The Love of and for God and The Love of Others!

Surrounded by the chaos and division that is running amok in our culture at present and the fear and the confusion as to which is the right path to take as an individual, I have to ask if you believe your priorities are in order – Jesus, Others, and You? Are you loving God first and then others, and maybe only then yourself? If you are then you know it is the key to our faith and to true Life.

I urge you now to go today and follow the words and examples of Christ – Love God! Love Others!