"You shall 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 your neighbor as yourself." ~ Luke 10:27. While these verses are widely known, they are rarely lived out.
I'm going to keep this short and to the point. While our love for God is to be the single greatest love in our lives, we cannot allow ourselves into thinking that it means we can shortchange people. In fact, when you look at some of the similar conversations that Jesus had you hear Him say that the "second" or "other" is like the first. It carries much of the same weight.
John asked the church how they could possibly love God whom they have not seen and not love their brother whom they have seen. How can we? How can we possibly display love for God and yet not love those who are made in His image? The answer is quite simple: Religion allows it. That's right - organized religion is one of the chief culprits as it relates to living out these words of Jesus. It allows us to compartmentalize our lives in such a way that we tend to grade ourselves in particular areas. Whichever area we deem as most important will outweigh every other area. How many times have we heard stories from people who had a father, mother, grandparent, etc. in their life who was a devout "Christian" on Sunday morning but when it came to how they dealt with the family...not so much. How is this possible? It's possible because religion comes with masks.
The reality of the Christian faith is seen in our relationships. Didn't Jesus tell His disciples that there was ONE MAJOR area that would tell the whole world that they were followers of Him? Why...yes He did!!! He said, "If you love one another." This "crazy little thing called love" became the proof text of their lives. If there was ever a question about who they were (or were not) it could be seen in the love they walked in with one another.
Let's bring this home.
Is there enough evidence in your home to convict you of being a follower of Christ?
What about the workplace?
How about in the community, at the recreation field, or in the grocery store?
Regardless of where you go or what you may be doing - LOVE is always the litmus test of where we are in our relationship with Him.
While I haven't counted the number of times that Jesus said these things in Scripture, it seems to me that He was just as adamant about how we treated others as He was about our relationship with God. The story of "The Good Samaritan" is one such instance. You had the religious folks who passed by the injured man on the road. Why...their devotion to the rules of religion kept them from intervening in this person's life. The one who was considered a true "neighbor" was the Samaritan who stopped to help the man, care for him, and make sure that he recovered. This is where each of us need to pay close attention. It's all too easy to get wrapped up in ministering to other people thinking we are fulfilling our duty as a Christian and yet miss out on showing love to the ones who are closest to us. For the sake of the next generation - this needs to stop.
Love God with everything you've got. Then take that same love and give it to everyone around you. Give that love to your spouse. Show that love to your children. Make sure that the people you come in contact with on a daily basis experience the love of God through you. Help the stranger in need, give a cup of water in His name, and be willing to go the extra mile. Regardless of what the task or situation may call for, you have an awesome opportunity to give love. And if you are a follower of Jesus, you get to allow Him to love people through you. It's simply a matter of tapping into the nature of Christ that dwells within.
My hope and prayer for each of us is that we will stop categorizing our lives.
Stop separating things as spiritual/non-spiritual.
Stop looking at things as sacred/secular.
Start seeing everything from a Kingdom of God mindset.
Maybe then we will understand the power of our words, our actions, and our love.
Enjoy the journey and LOVE everyone along the way!!!
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