Bishop Keith Butler
Mar 26
Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. (Matthew 22:37-40)
In Matthew 22: 37-40, Jesus was confronted with a question that was asked to all rabbis in His day: What is the most important aspect of the Bible? The answer the rabbis gave to this question usually defined the foundation of their ministry. One rabbi may say something about marriage and his ministry would be mainly about ministering to married people and helping marriages. Jesus, though, needed His ministry to be founded upon the entire Bible.
How would He answer such a deep question?Jesus was not confused, and He did not pause before answering. Jesus instead condensed the entire Bible into one concept: love.
He explained that, first and foremost, we are called to love God. Loving God does not mean having a warm fuzzy feeling when you think about Him. Love is a verb. It’s an action word. It means that we display our love through our trust and obedience. Loving God means we give Him the rule of our lives, our decisions, our actions, and our words.
However, that love for God, Jesus explained, should spill over to how we love others. Understanding that those around us were created in the image of God should compel us to care for and sow into the lives of others. In fact, the Bible clearly states that we don’t love God if it isn’t clear that we love those around us.
Let us be known by our love.
One of the greatest ways that we display our love is through the time that we spend with those we say we love. It's important to dedicate moments in our day to talk to God. We should also find time for those around us so we can sow into their lives. How can you change your schedule to allow more time with God and time to show your love to others?