“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: You shall love your neighbour as yourself.”
NKJV Mark 12:30-31
Let me open with a question: Prior to this current virus disruption, how did you love our neighbours on any given day? Or to put it simply, how did you love them when things were normal? Now that I have asked that question, how is that former lifestyle being reflected through the fruit of our heart during this pandemic? Here in this passage, the scribes are asking Jesus a question: “Which is the First Commandment of All?
Jesus answered the Scribes by stating that you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. Then He adds the second, like it, is this: love your neighbour as yourself! Now these 2 commandments aren't optional or conditional. You shall love, it speaks of a future tense placing strong emphasis on loving God with all your being now! and when you do – you are commanded to carry it over and into our human relationships as well.
I believe that when we love God with our strength through practical and realistic commitment, we are also enabled to love others in the same way. Loving God through a renewed mind is accomplished through the study and application of God’s Word and our submission to Holy Spirit. So, I’m loving God with my renewed mind and my strength, that enables me to have a deeper understanding of the mystery of God’s love. But also with renewed strength, my love for my neighbour is manifested through my interaction, love and concern for them. The point I would like to emphasis here is that we must first love God with all our soul! And then - this is very important - we need to love ourselves before we can interact, love and have concern for our neighbour – that folks will be authentic when the first commandment is true in our lives.
This intimate, personal relationship with Jesus empowers us to be passionate about Scripture , it will excite us and we enjoy life on the straight and narrow path. It not only moves us to serve our Saviour in practical ways but will prompt us to love others as we are loved!
The word soul appears many times in the New Testament. It points to the inner life of transformation because of your love relationship with Christ. Matthew 12:18 “....My soul is well pleased” speaks of pleasure whereas Luke 2:35 “a sword will pierce through your own soul....speaks of sorrow. Many of our experiences reveal that we love God emotionally and also with spontaneity. Many times believers will try and hold it together when in an atmosphere of worship, trying not to let go, we don’t want to appear to be too radical. But God gave us emotions, they need to be released in surroundings such as this, we need to be spontaneous, it brings freedom to your soul, it has great influence on others, people begin to see the passion and joy you have in your life and will want what you have.
We need to love God with our souls. One of the concerns of many health providers is the danger of being isolated or quarantines forced upon all facets of society. The unemployment of many has created added concern on many households, the possibility of increased number of deaths, and of course the constant reminder that there is “another threat of greater proportion on the horizon”. All of this negative perspective can be offset with something that 2 Chron 7:14 leads us to, “if My people will humble....pray...seek...turn – you know the rest. Prayer and humility can calm a soul out of control, prayer can help us be more responsive to truth and less reactive to negative emotions rising in our troubled souls. Simply stated, prayer is connection with God, it will bring troubled hearts, angry words spoken, worry and fear into perspective - God will hear your cries for His intervention. Prayer will bring the negative to a standstill when we partner with the Lord, He is an ever-present help at any time.
I’m sure you want to experience God’s presence today more than ever. To be empowered is vital in this season. We have some uninterrupted times each day so lets begin our day like Jesus did – with His Father and end our day with Him. It is possible to live in an atmosphere of continual prayer each day and there is great benefit is setting aside time to converse with the Lord, to read and study, to listen to Holy Spirit. Begin to renew your dreams, your hopes and needs, you will find a greater calmness as you grow close to the Lord.
No problem is too great that God cannot address, if you have a decision to make that is weighing heavily on your heart – seek His guidance, always speak with Him, He is waiting for you to stop trying to fix things that He wants to be involved in. Seek Him in your time of solitude, let it be deliberate. As you do, you will look forward to walking each day with the Lord, being thankful for wisdom and His guidance. Jesus has events for you each day, be grateful for your relationship with the Lord, then go through the day touching your neighbour. Remember Jesus touched you, go and do likewise! Maybe the Lord has already tilled his/her heart waiting for some display of God’s mercy and grace! You could be that display!