Love the Lord

 Love the Lord

March 31, 2026

Mark 12:28-31

28 One of the scribes came and heard them arguing, and recognizing that He had answeredthem well, asked Him, “What commandment is the foremost of all?” 29 Jesus answered, “The foremost is, ‘HEAR, O ISRAEL! THE LORD OUR GOD IS ONE LORD; 30 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.’ 31 The second is this, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

Yesterday we talked about trusting the Lord. You cannot trust without love. When Jesus was asked about the greatest commandment, he quickly quoted the command to love the Lord with all your heart, soul and mind. When we love the Lord totally, it is easy to trust. The second part is more difficult. We can love the Lord because we know He loves us back, but what about our neighbor? He can be difficult and contentious but we are to love anyway. 

The golden rule states that we are to do to others what we would wish to be done to ourselves. It is said that only Judaism and Christianity have this rule. All other religions, at best, only command to love your brother, but to hate your enemy. Certainly Islam falls into this category as they decree charity be done to fellow Muslims, but they teach that all infidels deserve slavery or  death. Certainly Jesus taught a better way! 

So our job today is to love the Lord with all of our being and to love our neighbor as ourself. “There is no other commandment greater than these.”