Mark 12: 28-34 28 One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”
29 “The most important one, “ answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’
31 “The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”
32 “Well said, teacher,” the man replied. “You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. 33 To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
34 When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And from then on no one dared ask him any more questions.
Love God
Love Others
Love Self
The heart of God is LOVE !
“I Love you” These three little words have a lot of power in them, when they are heartfelt, sincere and followed up by some action.
God showed his love over and over to Israel, by forgiving over and over and then to all the world by giving his Son, Jesus to die for our sins, so that we can have eternal life and not perish in hell.
Jesus show us his love for us by coming to earth, teaching us about God and then paying the price of our sins by his death, and giving us the gift of eternal life, by his resurrection.
How can we show our love to God?
How can we show our love to others?
How can we love ourselves?
We show God our love by Honoring him, Praising Him and Thanking Him all day, everyday! Also, by obeying his commands, which are all about the second greatest command to love others as much as we love ourselves.
We show others love by putting them first, taking time to listen, to share, to help them.
We also show others love, by taking time, to help them to love and help themselves. This is the part of loving others that we need the Lord to guide us in, so that we encourage others in their faith and in their daily life. As disciples of the Lord Jesus, we follow his example of love, by sharing our testimonies of how Jesus loved us and helped us in our own lives. As others come into a relationship we need to encourage them to remain true to their faith in God, by our words, and also by our actions. Being willing to come alongside one another as we go through tests and life experiences that challenge us in our faith.
The key ingredient to following all the commandments is love!
The religious leaders were all very good at following the law, and keeping all the people in line with all the extra rules they added onto the commandments, but they did not have love in their hearts. They showed that they didn’t love God, by how they lived and by how they treated Jesus!
The last part of the second commandment is to love ourselves.
How do we love ourselves?
First by believing that God loves us, and showed us his love by his death and resurrection. We each need help from the Lord in accepting ourselves as he does. He values us and wants us to value ourselves.
Second we need to forgive ourselves of our sins of the past and let go and turn to Jesus completely and fully.
Let him lift this heavy burden from your shoulders and let his peace and love flow over you and through you.
If you have accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, then you are one with Christ and you are a new creation, because the Spirit of God lives within you!
Do you see Jesus in yourself? Do others see Jesus in you? Let the Spirit within you lift you up and shine out through you to all those around you.
Love is what we all need the most and what God offers to each of us. I pray that God will open each of our hearts to receive more of him each day until we see him face to face!
Lord Jesus, please help us to love you, and to love others and to love ourselves as you do. Help us to be open to all that you have for us and to invite those around us to know you as we do. Amen
Patrice