HOW DO YOU LOVE AS GOD COMMANDED?

Today's promise: God pursues us with his love

How Do You Love As God Commanded?

Jesus replied, "The most important commandment is this: 'Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only Lord. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.' The second is equally important: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' No other commandment is greater than these.

Mark 12:29-31 NLT

Whole Love

God commanded us to love. It would have been easier if God had just said, "Run a mile a day," or given us some other physical task. Then we wouldn't have to think about it. We would create a routine of basic action. But God speaks of love as an action that requires our whole selves.

Why must we love God? In the divine plan for those creatures called human, loving God is as essential as breathing is to our physical life. We must breathe. We can make ourselves unable to breathe, or we can refuse to breathe — but now without consequences. We must love God because the alternative, though possible, is unthinkable and unbearable. How tragic that many choose to give "lip service" rather than "lung service" to this basic law of spiritual life. Take a deep breath and ask yourself what specific opportunities you will have today to demonstrate your love for God.

WISE WAYS  Think of some specific ways you could demonstrate your love for God in your neighborhood.

Today, Lord, teach me to love you with my whole being and share this love with others.

Adapted from The One Year® Book of Proverbs by Neil S. Wilson, Tyndale House Publishers (2002), entry for March 4

---

Love is a fabric that never fades, no matter how often it is washed in the waters of adversity and grief.
AUTHOR UNKNOWN

Content is derived from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation and other publications of Tyndale Publishing House