Thought of the day.
Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?” 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.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”
There are two parts to Jesus’ great commandment and they both center on love: love for God and love for our neighbour. The two go together. Jesus once said in another context, “What God has joined, let no one separate.” The Bible teaches that neither of these commands by itself is enough. To claim that we love God while hating or mistreating other people is just plain hypocrisy. According to the apostle John, doing that makes you a liar (1 John 4:19-21). But on the other hand, trying to love other people without first loving God is a futile effort at best. Because only when we have been transformed by God’s grace, only when God’s Spirit lives in us inspiring and empowering us, will we really be able to live for others in the same way that Jesus did. So both parts of Jesus’ Great Commandment hang together.
Erick Bouwmeester