Louise Gevers

“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second most important commandment is this: ‘Love your neighbour as you love yourself.’ There is no other commandment more important than these two.” Mark 12:30-31

How did your painting look?

There’s a good likelihood that how it looks relates directly to how you respond to the greatest commandment Jesus speaks about in the verse above, but only you can judge. It’s the first of the Ten Commandments. The amount of determination and passionate commitment involved in keeping this commandment can’t be ignored. Allof heart, soul, strength and mind mean everything – understandably – for loving God the mighty Creator of all things. There isn’t room for half-heartedness in our response to Him, or to our neighbour, which shows how our heart attitude will affect our painting.

‘Love’ sometimes seems too abstract, but God works miracles in those who want to be in a relationship with Him. Constant contact with God transforms our ‘limp Adam hand’ into one that determinedly reaches out towards Him and excitement at the thought of connecting to Him makes our faces alight with joy as we gaze up at Him. Our picture further improves when, instead being in Adam’s laid-back pose, we are eagerly straining forward as we reach out to Him. Being intentional is vital.

Picture a plug lying next to a socket; or a gift in the hand of the friend waiting to give it to you. The plug will not be connected to the power source unless someone picks it up and puts it into the socket, and the gift will not become yours until you accept it; but once each is done, the effect is immediate. The power and the gift are yours.

So it is with connecting to God and to our neighbour. We have to intentionally make the move. We can’t sit immersed in ourselves looking at the way forward, even loving the idea of the way forward - but doing nothing. Loving God is the key to connecting with Him and loving others is the evidence of this. God has to be our all in all, our Number One – and understandably He tolerates no rivals. Once we make that connection we look at everything from a new perspective and our love for Him and our neighbour grows.

John says, “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.” (1 John 4:7) “No one has ever seen God, but if we love one another … his love is made perfect in us.” (1 John 4:12)

Prayer: Holy Father, I want to love You so much more than I already do. Please help me to be intentional in loving you and others, and so make Your love perfect in me. Amen.