love Jesus – Meghan E White

It’s just so simple. Love God with all you’ve got, and love others like yourself. Well, that was easy. Please go back to your normal routine, and enjoy the picture of the Nevada desert. Hahaha! I wish just reading those words made loving God and loving others effortless.

What’s the greatest commandment according to Jesus?

³⁷Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ ³⁸This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ Matthew 22:37-39, NIV

I think about these verses every day. For me, it all boils down to this. The greatest commandment is the umbrella under which all other commandments fall. Love God with all I’ve got and love my neighbors, which is my family and every person, the same way I love myself.

“Love your neighbor as yourself” does not mean to love myself first, before I can love others. It just means in the same way we care for ourselves and our burdens, we show that same level of care and concern for others. Our neighbor is everyone and anyone. Your family, friends, and actual neighbors are your “neighbors”. We don’t get to pick and choose who we love. Though we try, we are called to something different.

Luke 10:30-37 tells the story of the Good Samaritan. Read this story for yourself. It gives a great example of how to be a good neighbor, and to show real love.

³⁶“Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”

³⁷The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”

Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.” Luke 10-36-37, NIV

We are to love all people. Every single person was made in the image of God.

So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them. Genesis 1:27, NIV

We need to ask God to help us see people the way He does. If I look at people with my own judgements and opinions then I’m not going to love them very well. If I look at others according to God’s view and that He made them, I can see their hearts much easier.

Loving others is really hard. Loving difficult people is nearly impossible. We don’t have to be best friends with everyone, or hang out with everyone, but we are told to love. We cannot love based on our own feelings or perceptions. Our love for others is based on the love Jesus has placed in our hearts. I cannot properly show love without God. He is love.

Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 1 John 4:8, NIV

Jesus loved me first before I ever knew Him or loved Him.

We love because he first loved us. 1 John 4:19, NIV

Love is so much bigger than like. The love Jesus gives us is beyond anything we will experience from another person. Jesus gave His life for us because He loves us.

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8, NIV

How do we love God with every part of us? It means we don’t hold anything back from God. Loving God is a natural response from a genuine relationship with Him. The more you know God, the more you will love Him. He gave us full access to Him because of Jesus.

To love God with all my heart, soul, and mind means I put Him first in my life. I give Him everything. I praise Him. Read His word. Pray. Ask Him to fill my mind with His thoughts. It is a daily choice to love God with every part of me. Though I will never love Him perfectly, I will make a choice to let my heart be loyal to Him first and foremost.

The Spurgeon Study Bible says:

“‘With all your heart’ means intensely. ‘With all your soul’ means sincerely, most lovingly. ‘And with all your strength’ means with all our energy, with every faculty, with every possibility of our nature.”

The greatest commandment to love God with every ounce of me and to love people is impossible. If I rely on myself to accomplish these acts, then it’s a failure every time. When I rely on Jesus, I can love the way He loves.

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” Jon 15:5, NIV

Loving God and loving everybody is how we shine our lights in this dark world. We have the awesome responsibility to be Jesus’ hands and feet to every person we encounter. We were never meant to do it in our own ability. Otherwise we’d never need Jesus. We need Jesus every moment, of every hour, of every day.

Let’s love our awesome God with everything we’ve got. Let’s love His kids well.

Love you all,

Meghan

Father God,

Thank you for your perfect love. Thank you for sending your son, Jesus to save us. Help us God, to love you and love others greatly. We cannot properly love people without You. Show us others, the way you see them. Let us see hearts and souls. Help us to see the hurting, lost, and broken. Use us, imperfect vessels, to love people. Thank you for the privilege we get to show Your love. We praise you!

Amen

Last week I was shopping at my local Aldi. I got there when they opened in search of water and maybe some toilet paper. My expectations were low. There was no water or toilet paper to be found. I asked the manager when the next shipment was arriving.

“Later that morning”, he said. “I have two packages of toilet paper in the back. Do you want them?”

Absolutely!

Once he loaded the t.p. in my cart, I made sure to ask the two women near me if they needed any. They both were O.K., and on the hunt for paper towels.

The manager then said to me, “Give me your cell number. I will hold water for you once the shipment arrives and I’ll text you when it’s ready.”

Say what? Kindess? You mean I don’t have to wrestle someone for water?

A few hours later I recieved a text from the store manager that my water was ready. It was a good thing he saved it for me. As soon as the water was put out, it was gone within minutes.

This act may seem small. In the grand scheme of things it is. In that moment, it was a big deal for me. God bless that kind manager. He didn’t have to do that. But, he did.

In God’s economy kindess matters. We are given opportunities every single day to make a difference. Sometimes they seem small, almost insignificant. God knows the big picture. One act of kindness can change someones day, even their entire outlook on life.

In the book of Acts we can see one very small verse, with one very simple act of kindness. Paul is being transported on a ship to Rome to appeal to Caeser. Read Acts to get the entire incredible story. Anyway, there’s a massive storm and ultimately they run the ship aground. Everyone bails out and gets to shore on the island of Malta.

“The islanders showed us unusual kindness. They built a fire and welcomed us all because it was raining and cold.” (Acts 28:2, NIV)

276 men had been at sea in a terrifying storm for two weeks. When they arrive on the shore of an unknown island they were met by kind islanders who had built a fire to warm them in the cold and rain. Sounds like no big deal. It’s one verse, and most of us are focused on every other part of this amazing story, that we miss the kindness of the islanders.

God used the islanders to bless these men, including Paul, after surviving a horrific storm.

God wants to use you today. It may seem small, but it’s not. We are looking for some big, grand gesture. And sometimes we get those chances to participate in the larger, flashier blessings. Those are very important too. I’m talking about the seemingly small daily things. The little things that can have a massive ripple effect for something larger.

Thanking the grocery store workers who are working tirelessly right now.

Giving another customer your package of toilet paper from your cart.

Checking on elderly friends and neighbors.

Praying for those infected with the virus and their families.

Praying for the doctors, nurses and all hospital staff who are putting themselves in harms way to save lives.

Thank your pastor who feels all the responsibility and stress to care for their hurting flock. Pray for them too!

The list is infinite.

God has opportunites set up just for you so He can use you. We get to be a part of what God is doing. He wants to use regular people like you and me to bless others. No act of kindness is too small or too big. If there is an oportunity to bless another human being, take it. Ask God to open your eyes and soften your heart to those who might need some help or a kind word. We can make a difference.

“Do to others as you would have them do to you.” (Luke 6:31, NIV)

Love you all,

Meghan

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Tag: love Jesus

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