2,000 year old advice

One day, some religious teachers and lawyers came to trick Jesus.  They asked “What is the greatest commandment?”  His answer still stands today, over 2,000 years later as a testament to God’s mission, God’s motive, and God’s method for a better life.  He said that we were to love God with everything we have, and to love others around us with the same love that we would show ourselves.  That is love in three directions:  toward God, toward others, and toward yourself.  What He said after this is even more important, and has serious implications for anyone who is interested in knowing God and discovering His will for life.  In Matthew 22:40 Jesus said that all of the laws, commandments, and prophetic writings hinged on fulfilling these two commandments.  In essence, if we could endeavor to love God, love others, and love ourselves we would not need the extensive lists of rules and regulations that seem impossible to keep. 

 Think about all the things that people associate with religion; “You can’t do that”, “That’s not allowed”, “That’s a sin”.  If we truly love God we will consider His purpose and will in our lives.  If we truly love others, we will not take advantage of them, or offend them for our own sake.  If we truly love ourselves, we will not do harmful things to ourselves or engage in self-destructive behavior. 

 This kind of love does not give a free pass to any selfish desire by saying “if it feels good, do it.”  No, this kind of love gives you the desire to live your life to the full, and gives you the heart to live the life you never thought was possible.  This is one of the greatest challenges of all time, and this is your opportunity to put it to the test.  Over the course of this blog we are going to look at these three main objectives:  loving God, loving others, and loving yourself.  This is not some new-fangled attempt at getting people to act more religious.  Forget about a different way to do church, this is a better way to do life!