DaySpring Daily Word of Inspiration: Matthew 22:37-39 – 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.”
We all know this scripture and some of us even recite it without hesitation. Now the question of the day would be do we do what it says? If God gave us only one law or command to fulfil, could you do that one thing? Obviously that is a loaded command because it encompasses a multitude of facets. However, it is a simple request. What does it look like to love God with all of your mind, soul, and heart? I would venture to say it looks like sacrifice, obedience, listening to, wanting to be around, longing to be with, eager to talk about, continually inquiring of, and of course dying (to one’s own live) for him. It’s strange, but isn’t that what God’s word speaks about throughout all of the scriptures? All of these things are encapsulated as our showcase of loving our Lord with everything we’ve got – our heart, soul, and mind. God did it for us? Think about it: God in his mind thought about us before the foundations of the world (Eph. 1:4-5), in his heart, He gave up his only Son so that through his sacrifice we could be back in a relationship with God (John 3:16), and He gave his very soul to be placed in human flesh to experience exactly what His people were going through just so He had a firsthand experience of our lives (John 1:14). Remember, we’re not talking about a regular man here; we are talking about the supreme Creator of all things – God himself! That’s how he displayed his love for us. Does our love match that today?
The second greatest commandment is the one hardest to grasp. The reality would suggest that if we can’t treat God how he deserves or has commanded us, how can we think we’ll be able to treat others how we treat ourselves? Well let’s go on record by saying, if you can’t do the first command, you’ll never be able to entertain the second one. By living out the examples of Christ in our lives, we find the change, maturity, and knowledge needed to see how God truly feels about us and in turn it produces a new heart, mind and concern for the things that He’s concerned about – His creation; His people! As exampled by Christ, we have some huge shoes to fill. However, it starts with giving your all to God in thankfulness, truth, and gratitude; reciprocating the gesture that He’s already exhibited for us. This is how the heart for God’s people is developed. Philippians 2 is a great example of God’s word reminding us of this fact! Verses 1 – 18 give vivid detail on the subject but verses 1 – 8 essentially express the very response to your gained knowledge, appreciation, and comfort from love by Christ as exampled by us imitating Christ. It is the very thing that wants God’s children to easily be identified; by our love which is the ultimate expression of God’s love to us!
Today we pray that we can get back to the genuine place of doing God’s commands so we are truly pleasing him and empting ourselves to be solely in love with him – as he is with us. If Jesus said it, let’s make every effort to do what God says. Whether it is unto God or His people, we have work to do but our part can’t be done if we’re not at least trying to love God with everything we’ve got! By beginning to love God with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength, we’ll be able to love others effortlessly because we will have the heart of Christ leading the way. In Jesus’ name, AMEN!