Love God, Love Others

“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.”  -Matthew 22:36-39

Love God, Love Others.  Sounds simple doesn’t it. It actually is, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy.

Why?  Why is it so hard for us to love God the way Jesus tells us to in Matthew?  I think it’s because it says to love him with ALL of our heart, ALL of our soul and ALL of our mind.  If we can do that then the next would come easy, to love our neighbor as ourselves.

If I think about my own journey to love God with ALL of those areas, it means getting myself out of the way. A popular meme going around Facebook reads, “Thinking more of others doesn’t mean thinking less of yourself, it just means thinking of yourself less.”  I think that fits here. 

When we get up in the morning, we typically think about ourselves first. What we are going to eat, what we are going to wear, and what we are going to do that day.  If we have kids, we think of them but usually even then we are thinking about how they are going to make us late.

Perhaps we should start the day thinking about God.  It sounds so simple it almost seems cliché, but the reality is, spending time in prayer asking him what we should do, and reading our Bible seeking his wisdom takes the focus off of ourselves and puts it on him.  

Then we are more prepared to think of our neighbor and notice where they may need grace or mercy extended.  Simply put-- Love God, Love Others.