Matthew 22:37-40
New International Version 1984 (NIV1984)
34 Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the
Pharisees got together. 35 One
of them, an expert in the law, tested
him with this question: 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 Pharisees thought they would outdo the Sadducees and trip
Jesus up with their question. I think
it is rather funny that they too were put in their place as we will see
later. But today I want to concentrate
on what Jesus told us was the greatest commandment, Love the Lord your God with
all your heart, soul, and mind! Let’s
think for a few minutes today what that all means.
With Our Heart
He chooses the first part of us to love Him with as our
heart. It is the organ that allows blood
to be circulated throughout our bodies.
It is like the pendulum on a clock, without it we do not have life. Without a love for God we are not like the
Timex watch that takes a licking and keeps on ticking. If we love the Lord our God with all our
heart, His love circulates throughout us allowing us to do all things for His
glory and it keeps us alive in Him.
With All Our Mind
I
thought this was interesting that Jesus would place our mind in this but let’s
think about it. Sometimes our minds
wander and when they wander they can go into some very wrong places. Jesus says that we need to have our mind
continually on God. Everything that we
think about should be directed to
knowing our Lord more. Although
He could be talking about intellect, I tend to think He is speaking more about
what we think about all day long.
Intellect is good, but we can learn so much that it becomes head
knowledge rather than heart knowledge. Remember
Jesus chose the unlearned and he reprimanded the ones that thought they knew it
all.
With All Our
Soul
Next He tells us to love Him with all of who we are. The very essence of who we are lies within
our soul. Everything we do in life
depends upon the condition of our soul.
Once we love God with all of our heart, we think about Him all day long,
our actions, our thoughts, our feelings, need to reflect that love and that is
done through our soul. We can have a
good heart, our minds can be in the right place but if our soul is still
serving ourselves and not God then the we are not loving God to the fullest.
Wow, we really need to have a checkpoint and see where we are
at with all of that?
Then Jesus says we need to love our neighbor as
ourselves. Sometimes I have thought that
I didn’t love myself very much and then found myself being selfish. I would say
if I am selfish then I am then it is a good sign that I am loving myself more
than others and that I do actually love myself.
So, what does it mean to love someone more than myself? It means sacrificing our wants in order to
fulfill other’s needs. It means changing
my plans (something that is very difficult for me to do) in order to help
someone out. It means being patient and
kind to those who are the most unlovable people we may know. It means not ridiculing others because they
don’t agree with me, it means lifting people up rather than grumbling about
them behind their backs, and the list goes on and on. Are we truly loving others more than
ourselves?
When we first love God with all our heart, soul, and mind and
then love our neighbor as ourselves, all the other commandments will fall into
place. Seems simple, and it is when we
allow the Holy Spirit to guide us, it becomes difficult when we listen to the
world and all of its pleasures. That is
why we need to seek Him with all our hearts, daily, that we can follow in His footsteps
and love as we are called to do.
Seeking Him with all my heart,
Sheila
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