Editorials
with all your heart, and with all your soul
When a Pharisee tempted Jesus, “Which is the greatest commandment in
the law?” He answered him: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your
heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great
commandment. And the second is like unto it: you shall love your neighbor
as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”
(Matthew 22:36; see also Mark 12:29-31)
So, it is not only a commandment to love the Lord – completely – but it is
“the first and great commandment.” Add loving our neighbor as ourselves and
these are the Two Great Commandments upon which “hang all the law and
the prophets.” That means loving the Lord and the neighbor are the essence
of the entire Word.
The Ten Commandments are relatively black and white: worship no other
gods, don’t murder, don’t steal, don’t commit adultery, don’t covet. But how
do we love the Lord with all out heart, soul and mind? It sounds daunting –
maybe too much to expect amid the demands of daily life. But the Lord’s yoke
is easy. He just wants us to live lives of love and use. That is how we love Him
and love our neighbor.
Throughout the world we witness what happens when people do not love
God. Too many don’t even know Him. Others may feel they just don’t know
how to love Him. God can feel remote and mysterious. The plaintive lament
sung by Mary Magdalene in Jesus Christ Superstar – “I don’t know how to
love you” – struck a chord with audiences. How do we really love Him –
especially with all our heart, soul and mind?
But the Lord gives us many illustrations. In Matthew the familiar story
of “What would love do?” was the basis for a recent General Church Journey
Program: “For I was hungered, and you gave Me meat; I was thirsty, and
you gave Me drink; I was a stranger, and you took Me in; naked, and you
clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came
to Me.” And when the people said they had not seen Him hungry, thirsty and
naked, He told them: “Inasmuch as you have done it unto the least of these My
brethren, you have done it unto Me.” (Matthew 25:35,36; 40)
That is how we love Him – simply by loving and serving others.