Text: Matthew 22:37 NKJV
Further Reading: Matthew 22:36-40
Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’
Matthew 22:37 NKJV
MESSAGE
Jesus Christ is love personified. He is the ultimate example of the love of God. John 3:16 says God loves the world by giving us Jesus and anyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. Jesus demonstrated His love to us by willingly laying down His life for us.
Greater love has no one than this than to lay down one’s life for his friends. John 15:13 NKJV. No one is better qualified to instruct love other than Christ.
The first and most important instruction that Christ gave on love is that you should love God with all your heart and might and then love your neighbors as you love yourself (Matthew 22:37;39). What this means is that God must be your first love and through the love of God, you must love people around you.
Jesus took the lesson to the next degree by saying that we are not only to love those who love us but also our enemies (Matthew 5:44-45). After all, we were God’s enemies when He sent Jesus to die for us. The Lord taught that to show that you are God’s child, you must love and pray for your enemies and persecutors. As difficult as this may be, God’s grace is available for anyone willing to obey.
Another important thing lesson that Jesus taught is that believers should love one another. This is a command and not a mere instruction.
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. John 13:34 NKJV
By loving one another the Lord said that all men would know that we are truly His followers.
To cap it all, Jesus said that the only way we can show that we love Him is by doing what He says (John 14:16). This means that everything that we have learned from Jesus must be obeyed. Obedience is an act of love for Jesus. Therefore in all that we do, we must ask God for the grace to prove our love to Him by always heeding His instructions.
REFLECTION
Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.
John 14:23 NKJV
Do you love Jesus? Then keep His words. Love is not by words but by acts. God demonstrated His love by sending Jesus to die for you, likewise, you must demonstrate your love to God by doing everything He asks you to do.
PRAYER
Father, please help me to love you with all my heart and to do everything
