What if everyone made love their top criterion in life’s decisions?

(Listen to my song “Love God” on YouTube by clicking HERE)

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Matthew 22:35-40

One of the Pharisees [a scholar of the law] tested him by asking, “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” He said to him, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”

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This reminds me of the great gap we have between people who are stuck in their heads and those who are able to access their hearts.

For some…their faith is strictly about beliefs and “black and white” rights and wrongs.

Such were the Pharisees in today’s scripture reading.

In attempting to trap Jesus into ranking one of the Ten Commandments as greater than the others…Jesus drops from his head to his heart.

He goes with loving God.

And…he adds a second: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Jesus apparently cherry-picked that one from a slew of rules given in Leviticus (Leviticus 19:18) including, “do not sow a field of yours with two different kinds of seed; and do not put on a garment woven with two different kinds of thread” (19:19) as well as “Do not clip your hair at the temples, nor spoil the edges of your beard” (19:27).

Obviously…rules can get so oppressive as to choke the spiritual life out of you!

Jesus made it quite simple: Life is all about love.

Love God and your neighbor as if your neighbor was yourself.

And by the way…your neighbor is everyone!

Remember…Jesus also commanded us to love our enemies (Matthew 5:44)! (Yeah…that’s the one hardly anyone pays attention to.)

If everyone decided to follow these two greatest commandments…the world would change overnight.

Each of us can make that decision…at any moment.

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Listen to the song of the day “Love God” on the Live to Love album by clicking HERE.

Stream and/or purchase my songs on Amazon Music by clicking HERE.

Remember…God loves you!