And he [Jesus] said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Matthew 22:37-39 (ESV)
Love. With All Your Heart.
Jesus said that there are two main things we need to do as His followers. First things first. Everything else will flow from these foundational, fundamental principles.
1. Love God.
And don’t just passively tolerate. Love Him with everything you have: your heart, mind, and soul.
This description speaks to an intentional choice to love. To focus on the object of our affection. We get to choose to love God on a daily basis in a practical way.
If we are in love with a person, we want to spend time with them, tell them how awesome they are, and feel their love in return. We hang on their every word.
Loving God practically is so similar:
1. Spend time with Him, discussing our joys and frustrations, acknowledging His presence in our lives.
2. Worship Him and tell Him how great He is.
3. Listen to His word and feel the depth of His amazing love for us.
2. Love people.
This is really easy in an abstract, distant way. Loving people in Africa enough to give money to a missionary that will help them and tell them about Jesus. Loving the family in your church who is experiencing tragedy enough to stop and pray for them or take them a meal. These are the easy things. Valuable and necessary, but simple.
Where the rubber meets the road is in the everyday difficulty of loving those closest to us. The ones who feel the brunt of our frustrations and problems.
We are not just supposed to be kind either; Jesus says to love others as we love ourselves.
One way I love myself is that I always believe the best about me.
When I fail to follow through on something, I don’t assume that I have malicious, evil intentions. I give myself the benefit of the doubt; excusing my actions (or lack of them) due to busy-ness, stress, other’s actions, unexpected problems, etc.
However, when others let me down or don’t follow through, I often assume they are lazy, don’t care, etc. I rarely put myself in their shoes and think of the problems they faced this week that might have derailed them in their good intentions.
Especially when it is the people closest to me. My husband. My kids. My parents. My siblings. It is easy to forget that they are individuals who are loved by God.
He loves me and extends mercy and grace in light of my repeated failures.
How can we truly fulfill the most basic commands of Jesus this week? How will be practically LOVE God and LOVE people?
Action Step:
Take a moment right now and think about the simple ways that you can love God a little better on a daily basis this week. Make a plan that hooks your new habit to an action that can act as a trigger to remind you to do it daily. I like to start praying the Lord’s Prayer while I am in the shower. Shampooing reminds me to start praying.
Maybe we could connect with God as we load and unload the dishwasher. I like to load the dishwasher right after dinner and turn it on to run right before bed. In the morning, first thing, I unload it. What could be better than to talk with God about our day as we are loading the dishwasher and thanking Him for a new day in the morning while unloading it? Tidy kitchen. Tidy heart.
Next, think about how we can do the same thing with loving others. Let’s start practicing believing the best about those around us. When negative thoughts pop up, replace them with thoughts of gratitude.
When we are preparing dinner, we can thank God for each family member specifically, focusing on good things about them and praying for them to be blessed. We can do this while we wipe down counters and cabinets as we cook. This keeps our home clean and our hearts free of the clutter of resentment and bitterness. Tidy kitchen. Tidy heart.
Prayer:
Dear God, thank you for the people that You have put in our lives. Help us to love them well even when they frustrate the living snot out of us. Help us to build habits into our lives that are transforming us into Christ-centered people that love You and love others. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Also, I have free printables in the Devotion in Action Resource Library for this series if you would like to Bible art journal along with me!
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