March 28

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.  The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.  Mark 12:30-31

These two verses contain what are known as the great commandments.  Jesus combines the entire Old Testament Law into a single and cohesive framework of love.  Both verses focus on a vertical love (love the Lord your God) and a horizontal love (love your neighbor).  Jesus takes the shema (Deuteronomy 6:4-5) and a command from the holiness code (Leviticus 19:18) and brings these two together creating the great commandments.  In Matthew 22:37-40 after telling the religious leaders what the greatest command in the law is “to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind and to love your neighbor as yourself,” Jesus concludes by saying that all the Law and Prophets hang on these two commandments.

In the vertical command found in verse 30, Jesus lists four specific parts of a human that must be fully engaged in worship of God: heart, soul, mind, and strength.  The heart is the center of our will and emotions.  It is the “control center” of a person.  The soul is the core of who we are, the basis of our personality.  Our mind is where our intellect, thoughts, and reasoning are found.  When Jesus lists the mind, he is pointing out that faith includes our intellect.  The fourth area is our strength.  This includes our physical energy as well as our resources and actions that are seen by others.  Jesus does not exclude any part of us in the worship of God.  Our entirety is what is required in our worship and love of God.  

While loving the Lord our God is the first command, the second command to love our neighbor is not to be separated from the first.  “Love your neighbor as yourself.”  In this command, there is an assumption we have a healthy level of self-care and self-interest.  This is the standard for which we should treat our neighbor.  Jesus told the parable of The Good Samaritan to give an example of a neighbor.  But, he also gave the instruction to include our enemies and those who persecute us as our neighbors and to pray for them (Matthew 5:44).  We can’t truly love God (whom we cannot see) if we do not love our neighbor (whom we can see).  This is why these two commands are inseparable. 

Striving to follow the vertical command to “love the Lord your God” includes a life of worship, study, prayer, and a desire to seek and follow God’s laws and commands.  Striving to follow the horizontal command to “love your neighbor as yourself” results in acts of justice, kindness, and service to others.  When we seek to live out both commands it will result in living a life aligned with the character of God.  Where does all of this begin?  With a heart set on seeking to follow and serve God.  Is this the desire of your heart?  What is standing in the way?  Confess.  Ask God to create a clean heart within - a heart that seeks to love and serve Him above all else.

Father - Thank You for giving me what I need today.  You are the one true God who loves me so deeply that You sent Your Son to die for me.  Help me to make You the top priority in my life.  Grant me the grace and mercy to love You with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength.  I want to seek, serve, and love You with all that I am.  You’ve called me to love my neighbor as myself.  Give me eyes to see the people around me - not as problems or irritations - but as Your beloved children.  Father,  I can’t do any of this on my own.  Here’s my heart.  Take it and align it to be more like You and what You desire.  In Your name we pray.  Amen