Today’s Devotional: “Love: The Great Commandment”

Love is life’s driving priority. Jesus made love life’s defining principle. He does so in several ways. First, he states that our love for God and for others is the first and greatest commandment.

“‘And 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 neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:30-31)

Some have shortened this to “Love God and love people.” But I think this is too simplistic and doesn’t accurately convey what Jesus means by placing them first and second.

By saying that the second is like the first, Jesus is saying that if you want to love God with the whole of who you are – with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength – then the way you show Him that love is by loving others.

And as awesome as that revelation is, it doesn’t do justice to what Jesus said at the end. We find it in Matthew’s gospel.

Jesus said, “On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets” (Matthew 22:40).

Imagine that! The whole of the law and all the writings of the prophets, all 39 books of the Old Testament, contain literally hundreds of thousands of words inspired by God and written down about how we are to live; words about God’s relationship with humanity and all of creation; words on life and living, on family and relationships. These two commandments about love capture God’s moral instruction for a joy-filled and prosperous life.

And this is just the start of what Jesus has to tell us about why love is so important. Therefore, love is the greatest of all the commandments.