May 4, 2001

"And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all
thine soul, and with all thy might." Deuteronomy 6:5

Our Lord Jesus quotes this al being the greatest commandment of all.
"And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together,
and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the
first and commandment of all? And Jesus answered him, The first of all
the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And
thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy
soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the
first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love
thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than
these" (Mark 12:28-31).
Now, how do we measure up to this? Many of us would have to confess that
we do not measure up to this! We do not love him with all our heart,
mind and soul like we should. I'm guilty of not meeting His expectation
of me. I wish I wasn't, but I must say with Paul, "Brethren, I count not
myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those
things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are
before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God
in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:13-14).
I wish I loved Him more than I do, but He is the object of my affection
today. I can truly say that I love Him, it just needs to be stronger
love!
"Do you love Me?' That is what He asked Simon Peter. I think He would
ask us the same question today if He were walking here on earth in our
time. To learn to love Him, we must sit at His feet and come to know
Him. He is the chiefest among ten thousand. He is the One altogether
lovely. He is our God. Peter said, "Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast
the words of eternal life. And we believe and are sure that thou art
that Christ, the Son of the living God" (John 6:68-69). He is our
Savior! He is our Lord! He is our God! I worship Him, I want to know Him
better. What does He mean to you?
"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy
soul, and with all thy might." Then the Lord Jesus reached into
Leviticus 19:18, and lifted out, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as
thyself." He said the second is like unto the first. There is no such
thing as loving God and hating His people. Remember that when Saul was
persecuting the Christians, the Lord Jesus asked him, "Saul, Saul, why
persecutest thou me?" (Acts 9:4). He may be asking some of us today the
same thing. Do you profess to love our Lord and at the same time
persecute Him? Do you love your neighbors? Do you even know your
neighbors? Better yet, do your neighbors know Christ? If we truly love
the Lord, we must show Him and continue to work for Him every day. Maybe
some of us need to start right in our own neighborhoods! It's just a
"step" away!
God Bless you as your love for Jesus reflects "all around" you today.

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