Learning To Love

In review of Mark 12:30-31 it says, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

Bottom Line:

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.  Secondly love others as much as you love yourself. There are no other commandments more important than these.

What this means to me:

This verse reminds me of the two most important things I can do as a follower of Jesus Christ.  First is for me to love the Lord my God, with all of my heart, soul, mind and strength.  The second is is equally important and it’s to Love others as much as I love myself. Yesterday, I studied how my uniqueness / complexity and even flaws are all from God. They make up a key part of who I am. Today I’m reminded that connections to others in my life also make up my identity. Connections with others give my life purpose and meaning. Jesus said that the most important thing I should do is love God and love other people (Mark 12:30-31). In the end my life will not be about my accomplishments or acquisitions, my popularity or prestige. It’s about how well I love. I’m learning that there are a few problems that keep me from loving fully as God intended.  First, I myself are imperfect. There will be no perfect relationships because there are no perfect people. Next my sin disconnects me. Adam and Eve had the first broken relationship and disconnected themselves from God and from each other. The more disconnected I am, the more fearful I become. I crave intimacy, but fear vulnerability. I crave acceptance, but fear rejection. Overall, I may not have had a say in the hand I was dealt in life. But God sent his son as my Savior to transform my cards into a winning hand. No matter what connections I’ve made in life, I will be held responsible for what I do with my connections today. I choose to let God affect my connections.  I will trust him for my future in spite of my past. I will nurture, protect, and build relationships so that God is more fully glorified by my life. I will strive to build healthy and not hurtful relationships with God’s help.