The second is this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” There is no other commandment greater than these. Mark 12:31 NABRE
Jesus is asked which is the first of all commandments. Jesus responds; loving God is first and loving neighbor is second. The most important commandment from Jesus perspective is love. There is no requirements to remain pure, to follow a certain doctrine or to follow any particular church rituals. If we want to be disciples of Jesus we are commanded to love. Jesus makes it even more difficult and more serious when he also says, “love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you” (Matthew 5:44.) We sometimes see love as this concept that is difficult to define, and we use it for many circumstances. We love our country, our house, our life, our friends, our spouse, a particular meal, a sports team, to travel, to stay home, to help others, to drive a nice car; the number of concepts, people, and things we say we love are unlimited.
In the original language of the gospels there are a number of words that can be used for love, love is more clearly defined. The deepest love in Greek is agape; a selfless, universal love. Jesus uses agápe when speaking about the love in this response. He wants our deepest, most sincere, selfless, totally complete love for God and neighbor. To help us understand Jesus uses His entire message to define the love He wants us to show to God and neighbor. Our neighbor is anyone and we shall put them first, lifting them and bringing them to a life of joy. We should not judge or decide their needs are not real. We can only demonstrate our love for God by serving our neighbor; giving food, drink, clothing, and visiting them (see Matthew 25:31-45.) Be like Jesus and love others and God.
Do you understand love? How do you demonstrate love?
We can only demonstrate our love for God by serving our neighbor; giving food, drink, clothing, and visiting them (see Matthew 25:31-45.) Be like Jesus and love others and God. Click To Tweet#bible #godisgreat #jesus #christianity #dailybibleverse @youversion #BeAnEncourager #love #selfless #Mark #everybodyalways #god #jesuschrist #jesussaves #godisgood #dailydevotion #biblestudy #scripture #bibleverse #verseoftheday #cross #last #Matthew #loveeachother #godisgreat #thisVineyard #youversion #everythingalways