The Greatest Commandment

Matthew 22:36-40 (NIV)

³⁶ “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
³⁷ Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ ³⁸ This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹ And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ⁴⁰ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

 The Greatest Commandment

 

   “Love your neighbor as yourself”.  We hear it all the time.  We see it on bumper stickers and buttons.  But what if we, as Christians, took the Greatest Commandment literally?  What if we, as Christians, put the Greatest Commandment into practice?

 Well, to ‘love your neighbor as yourself’, we must first look at clause ‘a’ of verse 37: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind”.  Love, pure love, unconditional love, begins with God.  Once we’ve developed and nurtured our love for God, only then can we love our neighbor as ourselves.

So, now that we’ve developed our love for God, we must now take that same love that God has gifted to us, and gift it to our neighbor.  Who is your neighbor?  That irritating co-worker, that noisy neighbor, that unkempt homeless person, and that unruly child. 

If you had a sign in your front yard, just as Churches do advertising their weekly sermons, what would your yard sign say about you to your ‘neighborhood’?  What are you preaching by your actions, behavior, attitude, the love (or lack of) that you show?

We all have very busy schedules, and family obligations, work, school, recreation, etc.  But in that busy schedule, it is time for us to start adding some ‘God things’.  Things that honor God.  Things that God has called us to do.  What has God called us to do?  It’s simple, LOVE GOD, LOVE PEOPLE!

Gospel recording artist Israel Houghton, wrote a song titled “Love God, Love People”.  In that song he sings:

“I can’t give it, til I live it
Now that my eyes are opened
Teach me how to love
Love God, love people
Love my neighbor as myself
My brother, my sister
Everybody love somebody”

A Great Commitment

to the Great Commandment
will grow a Great Community.

Everybody love somebody and

Let’s get growing!