Question of the Greatest Commandment, Part 3

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Title: Question of the Greatest Commandment, Part 3
Keywords: “commandment” “love” “neighbor”
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Passage: Mark 12:28-34*

28. And one of the scribes came and heard them arguing, and recognizing that He had answered them well, asked Him, "What commandment is the foremost of all?"

29. Jesus answered, "The foremost is, 'HEAR, O ISRAEL! THE LORD OUR GOD IS ONE LORD;

30. AND YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH.'

31. "The second is this, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.' There is no other commandment greater than these."

32. And the scribe said to Him, "Right, Teacher, You have truly stated that HE IS ONE; AND THERE IS NO ONE ELSE BESIDES HIM;

33. AND TO LOVE HIM WITH ALL THE HEART AND WITH ALL THE UNDERSTANDING AND WITH ALL THE STRENGTH, AND TO LOVE ONE'S NEIGHBOR AS HIMSELF, is much more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices."

34. And when Jesus saw that he had answered intelligently, He said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." And after that, no one would venture to ask Him any more questions.

Question

Have you come to the point where you can honestly admit you love others as much as you love yourself? If so, how did you get there? If not, why not?

 

Practical help

Loving others as much as we love ourselves is unnatural. Pornography feeds on this reality. If we truly cared for others as much as we cared for ourselves we wouldn’t use their images for our gratification, especially when those images are of people being tortured or abused in any way.

The good news is this. We can love others because God has first loved us (1 John 4:19). When we begin to understand that Jesus gave his life for us it begins to work in our hearts. From there we begin to seek ways to love him back. When you are thinking about buying a present for a loved one, don’t you try to give him or her what he or she would most want? What can you give God who frankly has everything? He tells us right in this passage. He says to us, “You want to love me? Then love your neighbors – who I also created and died for.” Isn’t that the heart of a parent, to see his or her children getting along and taking care of each other?

One final thought, how can you love others if you isolate yourself? Christianity involves some times of solitude, but it is lived out as we minister to one another. The context of loving God is always in community with other believers. You need them and they need you.

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*"Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, © Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission."