Jesus replied, “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul and all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” Matthew 22:37–39 (NLT)
God is love.
When asked what the most important commandment was in the law of Moses, Jesus didn’t mention one of the Ten Commandments. Instead, He gave two new commands, in today’s verse, which all the other ten can be summed up in. Imagine: if we love our neighbour, we’re not going to murder them or commit adultery with their spouse. Love takes it to a higher level!
Now some of us were raised to believe we need to continually love God more. We think that if we struggle in an area, it means we aren’t loving Him enough and need to up the ante. But how is our love towards God measured? By tithing more? Volunteering until we’re exhausted?
Perhaps we worry our salvation is in jeopardy, because we’re not sure if we even love God. Did you know the condition for salvation is not loving God? It doesn’t say we have to love Him first. It says to confess with your mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord, believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead and you’ll be saved (Romans 10:9).
So, it’s not how much we love God, but the realization that God loved us first (1 John 4:19–21, John 3:16) that enables us to change and reach out in love to others. Then we can reciprocate God’s love. You see, the Gospel is all about being loved first—and when that love changes us at a heart level, we aren’t able to keep it to ourselves!
That’s the power of love.