“And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbour as yourself.” And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.” (Luke 10:27-28 ESV)
We have seen that we must love the Lord our God with every fibre in our being, accept His gift of eternal life which is found through a relationship with Jesus Christ – who teaches us how to love – alone.
However, the second part of the passage is the key to our love for God. How can we love our God with our whole self if we struggle with love in other areas of our life?
The passage says that we must love our neighbour as yourself. To me, that signifies two very important aspects of love:
Self Love – We need to know how to love who we are as people. We are God’s workmanship, we are his chosen children, yet so often we view ourselves as so much less. We allow issues of body image, money, power, or relationships to make the water muddy, and we can no longer see the truth in the reflection. We need to love ourselves first, and the rest will follow. Do I truly see myself as God sees me? Do I believe that I am worthy of His perfect and complete love? Am I willing to love myself enough to allow Him to love me?
Selfless Love – We need to love others as we love ourselves. This is the rest of the story! Our neighbour, not just in proximity to us but practically as well, is the one whom we must showed love and acceptance upon. We need to show them love that flows from our heart, which needs to be filled with the love of God! Am I willing to extend the merciful and gracious love that has been extended to me by Christ in an equally gracious and merciful way? Do my actions toward others, even the difficult ones, drip with the love that should saturate my life and overflow out of my actions?
We need to love God, love ourselves, and love others. God has made it clear to us: “Do this and you will live.” Not just physically live, and draw breath, but to truly be alive! When our lives are marked by love, then, and only then, do we truly live the full and complete life that Christ has promised us.
