The spiritual leaders of Jesus’ day once asked him which commandment was the most important,

“The most important is,

‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 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.’

The second is this:

‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’

There is no other commandment greater than these.”

Jesus was asked about the greatest commandment, but he answered by quoting two commandments. This is very interesting to me. Jesus felt he could not answer the question with a single command; the most important thing is actually two things. I believe he is saying that the two loves cannot be separated. At least one of his disciples heard it that way and wrote about it decades later.

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. 1 John 4:7-12 [ESV]

John connects our love of God with our love for others. Not that we can justify ourselves before God by loving others. But His love for us gives us His love for others. Loving others flows from His love for us. To love Him is to love others because He loves us all. The two loves are inseparable.

That takes me to the thought I want to focus on today.

Walking the way of Jesus involves a double commitment.

* We need to prioritize time with God, loving and being loved, to be infused with His love and know Him and His love for us in that sacred place.

* We need to distribute the love we have received from God to others so we may truly know love.

Knowledge is: embodied truth.

Love is: benefiting others at my expense.

Let’s get practical

So, what does this two-part walk look like? Is it two ways, or one? Jesus was never a big fan of living a double life, so we need to understand how these two commandments to love God and your neighbor are one way. Since all things ultimately originate with God, we must start there. God is our source of life; He is our source of new life. God is love and the source of love. So, to know love, we must first know God.

But how do we know love? As I mentioned above, knowledge is embodied truth. We will know the truth as we do the truth. We will know love as we love. And love begins with God. Although we have already concluded that the two paths are one way of life, in practice, we need to go to the source first.

Breathing in

Walking the Way of Jesus is much like breathing. Breathing is not inhaling or exhaling; it is both. To exhale, you must first inhale, but once you have exhaled, you have no choice but to inhale if you want to keep on living.

I would like to use this breathing metaphor to describe the practical rhythms of life we find along the path of God. Let’s begin with breathing in because without a fresh breath of air we won’t get very far.

Time with Jesus

God is the source of all life. Jesus is God in the flesh who lived, died, and rose again as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. To think we could do anything or be anything without Him is silly. So, let’s be a bit more specific.

The first step along the path is to stop. Unplug from our daily pressures and routines, sit with Jesus, and listen quietly without interruption. In practical terms, this means changing your schedule and your priorities.

With each decision we make, we vote on what’s important to us. If we believe there is a God, Jesus is His Son, and he really desires to live with us and bless the world through us, our priorities need to change. God is our source. God is our past, our present, and our future. This means we must begin with God every day. If that means waking up an hour earlier, then that’s what it means.

What could that look like?

First and foremost, find a time and place that is free of distractions. This is often the hardest part for me. From the moment I wake up, I am overwhelmed with distractions from inside and out. This is why aggressively scheduling time for Jesus is so important; if I don’t make that the most important thing every morning, there are a hundred things just waiting to swoop in and take over.

Next, I need a deliberate plan for reading and studying the Bible. For the word of God to have its full effect, we must read the Bible broadly, deeply, and prayerfully.

* Broadly, this means reading books we don’t normally read in order to round out our understanding of the whole word of God.

* Deeply means that we must also do the hard work of studying each of the biblical books in context and carefully, allowing the text to speak in its own voice.

* Prayerfully means that we don’t assume we know what God is going to say to us or how He is going to say it. Prayer carries us to a place where we can hear what Jesus is saying.

Breathing out

Once we have a breath of fresh air from Jesus, we are ready to breathe out. This is the second commandment Jesus spoke of earlier. Loving your neighbor as yourself. Time with Jesus will give us new eyes to see the people around us. Everything we see and hear around us wants to breed apathy, suspicion, or even contempt for those around us. But when we see ourselves in others, we begin to understand what we look like to Jesus. When we see ourselves and others through the eyes of Jesus, it will lead us to ways of showing the love of Jesus to others.

The love of Jesus is far more than just evangelism. More often than not, it is simple kindness—kindness that flows from God’s Spirit and may lead people to Jesus. But if not, it is kindness that shows them that God is love, even when that love is not returned. The love of God has always been the best argument against selfishness and hatred.

This Week

Both Jesus and John made it very clear that loving God and loving our neighbor are two sides of the same coin. They are inseparable. Jesus also said, “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” Not only do we have Jesus to empower and guide us, but we also have each other as believers. This week, let’s lean into this second commandment. Loving each other and reaching into the world Jesus died to save. Together, we can demonstrate the love and forgiveness we have been shown to a world that so desperately needs it.

Have a great week!

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