The Greatest Commandment

          An expert in the law asked Jesus, “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

         Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’
             This is the first and greatest commandment. The second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law
         and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

—  Matthew 22:35-40

Alone among religions, Christianity teaches that the most important way of loving God is love another: that loving God and neighbor are nearly the same thing.

Having been uttered by the living Word of God Himself, this teaching is both uniquely authoritative and peculiarly generous: God, who has every right to demand complete and utter devotion from all, exclusive even of each other, has told us personally that to love Him means to love one another, with the same love we hold for ourselves.

This carries profound implications, and makes Christianity very different from other ways of life.

Through Chapter 25 of the Gospel of Matthew, Christ has offered those who would follow Him a very clear starting point. Everything we have, the Son of God explains, belongs to God. We are merely entrusted with it for the duration of our time in this life, and we are intended to use it for God’s purposes – not our own.

We must act as proper stewards of the gifts God has lent to us.

 

 


Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.