MORE LOVE TO THEE

 

MORE LOVE TO THEE

Matt. 22:36-37 “Teacher, which is the most important commandments in the law of Moses?” Jesus replied, 'You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important. ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the other commandments and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments." NLT

We read and meditate on this statement from Christ and more than likely shake our heads. We know that we fall so far short of doing this. We know it's possible; otherwise God would not have given it for us to do. We have to hang our heads in shame, because we just are not able to do it as a way of life.

To love God with all of our heart, soul and mind means that He is the sole purpose for why we live. It means that everything in our lives flow from our devotion to God. He overshadows our work, relationships, recreation, etc. He is on our mind from the beginning of our day to its end. All that we do is to first honor and glory Him. We may have moments when we can do it, but as a way of life? I doubt that any of us can honestly say we do it.

And then, to love others as we love ourselves? How many of us can honestly say we do that? I do know some people who I really believe do, but most of the people I know don't. We usually look out for ourselves better than we do others. We are more apt to sacrifice for ourselves than we are for others. We do seem to be better at this commandment than we are the first one.

The thing of it is: God is love and when we love Him first and most of all, we are then able to love others as we should. Our priority should always be to love the Lord. We should always stay in touch with Him through His Word, prayer, and the fellowship of other believers. We should always remain open to Him and let Him have His way with us. We should always strive to know Him better and seek to show our love and respect for Him in how we live and talk. It should be our passion to know Him better and live for Him better. If we love Him, we will want to please Him in all we do and say.

When we learn how to love the Lord and live in His love, we will then naturally love others and ourselves as we should.