Monday, June 15, 2009

Love.

How can I love God and others better?

It all comes down to that question.

"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads." Deuteronomy 6:5-8

I pray that I can love God and love people as much as possible.
I hope that we can all make that our prayer. 

The next time I have an inclination to be rude or hateful I pray that I remember these verses.
The next time I feel the need to sin, I pray that I remember these verses and that I can remember that God will not let me be tempted more than I can bear.

Does anyone have any verses or things they do that help them love God and people? I'd love to hear them.

1 comment:

Molly R said...

Some good "love" verses/passages...

"Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."
Romans 12:9-10, 21

James 2:1-13, though it doesn't seem like it's about love. It's more about seeing people the way that Jesus sees them, which I've found really makes a difference.

"Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our hearts before him...we have confidence before God, and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. Whoever keeps his commandments abides in him, and he in them."
1 John 3:18, 19, 21-24

"In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another...if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us."
1 John 4:10-12