It's All About Love (Luke 10:27)
The man answered, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.’ And, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” (NLT)
This is probably the most important verse in the Bible and so many seem to have forgotten it. It boils down to love God, love everyone.
For some reason it’s been easy for us to forget this. Even me some days when chronic pain gets to me; I can be cantankerous, judgmental, and mean. I know those are days when I’m not myself because I’m of pain, but it doesn’t excuse it. So I have to remember when I receive harsh treatment from others that they must be going through something that I can’t see or understand as well.
It would be easier if the love we gave started with ourselves. When I am in one of those foul moods, I have to stop, pause, and recognize why. Where am I feeling the migraine that day? What was the trigger to my mood? What is the reality of the situation (which is often not what has triggered my mood). Then I give myself grace to feel my feelings and let them go, like I’m washing them down a fast moving stream. It’s not easy, but after years of practice I’m getting better at it. That is the love for ourselves that we should grace others with as well.
We know that God loves us no matter what, whether we’re having a good day or a bad day, whether there is rain or sunshine, and we have that love available to us every day and every night of our lives. God’s love is unending, forever with us, and forever for us, for each and every one of us. Because God loves us, we know we can love him, too. We can love him first and foremost, honouring his love with our own.
That takes time, too, because we’re so used to human ideas of love and of the bargains that go with it that are often broken. “I’ll love you as long as you are honourable and faithful to me, too.” Well, as a species we’re notoriously unreliable, and more than once we’ve likely ended up with broken hearts that have left us jaded and sad. So with those experiences in the back of our minds and hearts, when we learn of God’s love our first response (or at least mine was) “what’s the catch?”
I remember asking my first pastor what the rules were for being in the church we were going to — what did it mean to be in that denomination. He said that there weren’t any formal rules like “stand up here, sit down here, say this response when we say that” etc., it was simply to love God and follow Jesus. The rest didn’t matter. It seemed too simple, but was such a relief to me. I didn’t have to worry about any kind of human rules or performances, to try and measure up to an impossible standard. All I had to do was love God and follow Jesus.
That means that we should love others like Jesus loved others; loving others more than himself so much that he chose to give up his life for us. That is a deep measure of love for others, and I know it is likely I will never measure up to that depth, but it is the greatest example of loving others there is.
Love God, love everyone.
That means on our worst days, as mentioned above, to have grace for ourselves. If we do or say something wrong, apologize and ask for forgiveness. Then we can do better by pausing and being more kind the next moment, or the one after that. It will take practice, but it is worth it because in the end, the world needs more Love.
Love God; Love Everyone.
Amen!