“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” (Luke 10: 27 NIV)
In my last post I shared a little about how living in an awakened awareness of God’s love has changed my life. I’d like to take time again this week to look a little deeper into the effect of God’s love on me, and how I believe it can impact all of our lives if we allow it.
Related to today’s Scripture, two others come to mind:
We love Him because He first loved us. (1 John 4:19 NKJV)
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)
As I read the first part of today’s Scripture, I wonder – How am I supposed to show God that I love Him with all my heart, soul, strength and mind?
Exodus 20: 4-6 says, “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments. (Exodus 20:4-6 NIV) (Emphasis mine)
Verse 6 clarifies that we show God that we love Him by keeping His commandments. That includes the Ten Commandments and the other instructions that God has given to us through Scripture. It also includes the specific directions given to us by God’s Holy Spirit that are specific to our individual lives. I am unable to live a life of obedience to Him, without His help. I need His Holy Spirit to help me.
Even when we express our love for Him, He blesses us. Deuteronomy 4:40 (NIV) says, “Keep his decrees and commands, which I am giving you today, so that it may go well with you and your children after you and that you may live long in the land the Lord your God gives you for all time.”
What does it mean to love my neighbor as myself?
In my younger years, it was not uncommon for my peers to reject or tease me. As a result, my self–esteem was low and unhealthy. The first step to the Lord’s restoration in my life was to renew my thinking. He reminded me that Instead of focusing on what others said about me, I needed to know and become focused on what HE said about me. Over time, He revealed His love to me as I studied His Word. I learned that His opinion of me differed greatly from the opinions that others had expressed to me.
There are two verses in the first chapter of Genesis that started me on my journey; verse 27 which says, “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them” and verse 31 which says, “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.” Then, I read John 3:16 (NIV) which says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
Since I’ve gotten the message that God created me, loves me, and Saved me through Jesus, it has changed how I see those in the world around me. My desire is that God’s love FOR me will overflow FROM me to those I come in contact with, so that other people’s lives can be changed by God’s love as well. It all comes from Him, not me.
My prayer is, “Heavenly Father, thank You for loving me, even when I feel unlovable. Please help me to love You more and follow Your commands better every day. Please help me to love others, and show Your love to them. In Jesus’ Name, AMEN.
