“Jesus replied, “This is the most important: ‘Hear O Israel, the Lord our God is One Lord, and you shall 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.’ No other commandment is greater than these.” – Mark 12:29-31
Love God and love people. This is the foundation we pray we live from, simply because Jesus said it’s part of the greatest commandment and also because it brings honor and glory to God.
Jesus is the only perfect One who loved God with all His heart, soul, mind, and strength and who truly loved people perfectly – both His enemies and His friends, so much so that He died for us. When Jesus resurrected, He promised that He would send us the Holy Spirit to teach us all things and to help us (John 14:26). If you accept Jesus as your Savior and have a personal relationship with Him, you will have the Holy Spirit transform your heart and enable you to fulfill the first and great commandment of loving God and the second greatest of loving people. It is only possible through the sanctifying blood of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit working within you. When you say, “Yes” to Jesus, God replaces your heart of stone with a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 26:26), and you become a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17) which enables you to carry out His commands.
Don’t live in condemnation if you feel you can never measure up to living out the greatest commandment, because you were never meant to strive. No matter how hard we try, we will never be able to love God as He deserves, because we will never be able to repay Him for the price Jesus paid on the cross. The beautiful thing about Jesus is that He takes our weak love, and calls it genuine. He receives our sincere love, with faith even as small as a mustard seed (Luke 17:6), and tells you that you can move mountains with that type of love! Dear friend, even your weakest attempts at loving God moves His heart, it stirs His heart with such love and compassion. We were never meant to fulfill the Greatest Commandment through our own effort, but through the Spirit of God living within us (Zechariah 4:6)!
On The Elena & Natalia Show, we share how living the greatest commandment out is possible and what the practical ways of doing that looks like.
Here are a few practical ways we can love God with all our:
HEART
Put God first and center
Have conversations with God: It’s not a monologue, but a dialogue
Trust God
Worship God
SOUL
Give of your time, treasures, and talents
Surrender
Obey God
MIND
Renew your mind
Study & read the word of God
Turn off distractions
Gratitude: Thank & praise!
STRENGTH
Be still
Hope in the Lord
Take care of your body & health
We’d love to hear your thoughts on how you love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength! How do you show that you love Him?
Jesus also said that the second greatest commandment is to “love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:39). We love our neighbors, our friends, even our enemies, people God places in our lives by sharing the love of Jesus, praying for each other, forgiving, and showing mercy & compassion.
Our “neighbor” as described by Jesus in the Parable of the Good Samaritan, isn’t just our fellow believer, but those who don’t know Jesus. We are called to love and to show mercy and compassion to ALL people. Showing love doesn’t necessarily mean we agree with all of their beliefs, but it means we treat each other with love, honor, and respect. Next time you come across someone on your path who is in obvious need of help, don’t ignore them. God may have allowed you to cross paths for a reason. If you see someone beat up emotionally, verbally abused, or bullied, show compassion. Be the Good Samaritan. Show the mercy and compassion, you desire to be shown.
Prayer:
I love you, Lord. I want to love You as You deserve and as You desire. I know it’s impossible, by my own strength, but all things are possible with Your Spirit living within me! Help me to love you with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love my neighbor as myself. I want to love you more today than I did yesterday and I want to love you more tomorrow than I do today. Help me Lord. I love You.
In Jesus’ mighty name,
Amen
