Great Commandment - Morning Devotion on Mar. 12, 2024

The Great Commandment

One of them, an expert in the law; tested him with this question: "Teacher: which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

Matthew 22:35-40

These verses contain the ideal of love that is the vital logic of the universe, the ideal ideology of the universe, and the center of life of the universe. In this way we can make a love connection with God, loving God by offering all things as said in these words.

Jesus said, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind." The cosmic representative who loved God with all of his soul and with all of his heart and with all of his mind was none other than Jesus. To receive recognition as the man who came forth with a will like this, Jesus frankly revealed his situation to his beloved disciples. Jesus was a man who employed his utmost for the benefit of heaven. He was a man who exerted all of his heart, his power, and his mind.

We should emulate Jesus' virtues, such as the loyalty and sincerity he showed in his service toward heaven, standing all alone in a swirl of things and holding onto the great mission of the heavenly way. He demonstrated the heart that exerted all, the mind that represented God's will, and the character to make every effort to substantiate the ideal of love.

Jesus Who Is to Establish Heaven's Love

February 24, 1957

The movement that we should ultimately begin is the "New Love Movement." The focus of the "New Love Movement" is to love God as our Father and to love our neighbors as ourselves. The crown of love is sacrifice. The "New Love Movement" should develop into a movement that knows how to sacrifice for God, for the world, for the nation, and for all fellow countrymen.

This is Jesus' ultimate teaching, but in history Christianity always failed to accomplish this "New Love Movement." Any movement that lives only for itself will necessarily fail, while any movement that is willing to die to let others live will remain eternally When Rome which enjoyed the greatest prosperity became self-centered, even that great empire collapsed.

May the Fatherland Shine Forth

October 19, 1978

What if you do your church work just to get a salary or some recognition? Is that the correct motivation? The first commandment of Christ was to love God with all your heart, mind, and soul. Giving your heart, mind, and soul means that you are ready to stick your neck out, even ready to die for the love of God. Are you doing that?

The End of the World and Our Age - March 19, 1989

The Great Commandment

Jesus’ teachings were so profound that the Scribes and Pharisees always questioned his authority because he was not a learned man as they were.  However he was confident in his understanding of the law because of his authority, wisdom and understanding which came from God directly.

 

Jesus when asked, what is the greatest commandment of the law, He replied that the greatest commandment is to love God with all our heart, soul and mind. In other words, with our entire being. 

We ought not to love God partially, but to give all of ourselves to God. One must attend Him with all the parts and powers of one’s soul. 

As Believers (Christians) it is challenging to live a holy life, one of righteousness, but Jesus gives us these two seemingly simple commands, that if we follow, will be a testament to our faith and conviction in our Heavenly Father. 

Leviticus 19:18 states: Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord. 

 Love for God and neighbor is not simply emotion, or a gesture of good will; but rather our very own self-emptying and sacrifice, taking on the role of a servant, putting ourselves last and others first. “Living for the sake of others”.

 

Jesus said that all the law and the prophets hang on these two commandments.   Therefore, they are very much connected and inseparable, together leading us to spiritual growth, and communion with God and our fellow human beings. 

1 John 4:8 states: “Whoever does not love God, does not know God because God is love.

4:19-23 states: “We love because he first loved us; If anyone says I love God. Yet hates his brother, is a liar. 20)For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. 21)And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.”

 

As Believers (Christians), we are called to acquire this relationship of love and unity, found in Jesus’ words These passages of scripture remind us of our calling to unite with God in love and to love and serve our brothers and sisters with that divine love. 

Although the Pharisees motives are clearly distorted and impure, seeking to find fault in Jesus, his reply helped them to realize that he understood the law, maybe more than they.  

In Matthew 5:17 Jesus states: “Do not think that I have comer to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” 

Let this therefore be a reminder, if we center our lives, relations, struggles and tests on His everlasting love, we will be fulfilling His greatest commandments.