When you “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” (Matt. 22:37, NIV), love has no boundaries.
The Lord asked Israel, and by heritage, He asks us to revere Him and walk in His ways (Deut. 10:12).
As it is written: “Happy are those who keep his decrees and seek him with all their heart.” (Psa. 119:2, CSB)!
We know that when we demonstrate a profound love, our faith grows and matures, and we recognize “The command that Christ has given us is this: whoever loves God must love others also" (1 Jn. 4:21, GNT).
In other words, when God’s love is perfected in us, it is impossible to love God and not love others.
We must love our neighbor if we want to fulfill the law and obey the Lord. Loving others comes naturally when you love God, but it is not an everyday feeling we can easily dismiss. It is about total devotion to Him, as He has loved us, we must love one another.
It becomes a burden only when we do not fully love God and do not believe in the Lord Jesus.
Burdensome means that something is heavy, oppressive, or challenging. Jesus tells us in Matthew 11:30, “For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Our faith gives us the ability and desire to keep God’s commandments.
We can say all day that “we love God,” wear crosses, go to church, and pay tithes; none of this means anything if our love for God is superficial.
Decide this day to be obedient to God’s Word, love your neighbor, and others as well. “The entire law is fulfilled in a single decree: 'Love your neighbor as yourself” (Gal. 5:14).
Therefore, we pray that you love yourself as Jesus loves you because it starts with you. God calls us to a life of obedience. Loving yourself is a driving force behind loving others, whether they are a parent, child, friend, or stranger.
Think about a parent-child relationship. When a child truly loves their parent, they want to please them. They obey not out of fear, but because they want to show their love and respect.
In the same way, our obedience to God should flow from a heart that wants to please Him.
Ask yourself, “Is what I am doing pleasing to the Lord?”
As author A.W. Tozer once said, “The true follower of Christ will not ask, ‘If I embrace this truth, what will it cost me?’ Rather, he will say, ‘This is truth. God help me to walk in it, let come what may!’”
When we genuinely love Jesus, obedience becomes our natural response to His love.
We would never ask, “What's in it for me?” Join us as we seek the truth and seize every opportunity to show love to others. God’s love is powerful and transformative.
Minister Nettie Pennington is Associate Minister of Springfield Missionary Baptist Church. She is a faithful contributor to your Tate Record church page.
