1. Love God with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your soul, and with all your strength.
2. Love your neighbor as you love yourself.
These are the rules to live by, given by God.
Now, on the first: My heart, mind, soul, and strength are pretty much the sum total of what I am. My heart is at the core of my body's operations, pumping life throughout me. Love for God needs to be in every function of my body: breathing, walking, standing, sleeping, resting, playing, anything.
My mind is at the core of my thinking, where I put ideas together and make decisions. Love for God needs to be part of every decision, every thought process. I must honor Him with my thoughts.
My soul is my identity. It's the "me" behind it all. Love for God must be central to who I am. To the question, "Who are you?", at least part of the answer should be, "I am one who loves God."
My strength is my work. It's all I do. Any action: from walking to a place to doing a job to giving a direction to just pushing a button must demonstrate a love for God.
On the second: Who is my neighbor? Jesus answered in the Good Samaritan parable. It's anyone who decides to connect with me. Anyone who wants to avoid or reject or hurt me is not my neighbor. Anyone who helps me or needs me or wants to relate to me in any way is my neighbor. These are the folks I need to concern myself with. Specifically, I must treat these as myself. If I'm hungry, I feed myself. If I have a need, I try to satisfy it. I want myself to be happy and comfortable and at ease. I must treat my neighbor in this same way.
Tuesday, January 5, 2016
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