Jesus gives us the guidelines on how to incorporate love into our lives. All four Gospels have His words about love. Mark 12:30-31 is typical, where Jesus says, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these.”
In this Biblical quotation, we see that Jesus is revealing to us that we must have a total commitment of love towards God – a love which dominates our emotions, and directs our thoughts and actions. Yes, it is love of God first, and love of man second. Man is made in the image of God, who is LOVE, and for that reason, man is lovable. So we could say that the only way that we prove to God that we love Him is by showing that we love man, His creation. Every person the Lord places in our path, love them with an unselfish, unconditional love. When we don’t love, our day is wasted.
Jesus also gives us the Golden Rule which says ‘do to others as you would have them do to you’. This is the very essence of our Christian conduct to actively do good things for others. When we behave in this manner, we are imitating God because that is the way He acts. He is kind to the person who brings Him joy and equally kind to the person who grieves His heart. God’s love embraces saints and sinners alike. It is His love that we must copy. If we, like God, seek our enemy’s highest good, we will truly be children of God.
The greatest form of love is charity. When we see a sister or brother in need, we help them, not only because it’s the right thing to do, but because Jesus is the one directing us. His Sermon on the Mount clearly tells us how to treat those in need. To say we follow Jesus, we can’t turn our back on those in need. Jesus didn’t. He helped everyone during His three-year ministry on earth, and continues helping us from Heaven through the Holy Spirit.
Prayer: Out of love for you, Jesus, I will empty myself of selfishness and do my best to accept my role as your servant to love and serve others, following in your footsteps. If I fall down due to my weakness, I will get up and try again, believing that you will give me the strength I need to fulfill Your will. Help me to be understanding, kind, gentle and patient to all people, including the sick, the homebound, the homeless, the hungry, the poor, the imprisoned, the hospitalized, the forgotten, the abused and neglected, the elderly, the blind and the disabled. Amen.
Michael Springer wrote, “To truly understand and be able to share love takes the sacrifice of one’s self. It’s realizing that love isn’t about you or what you can get. It’s about you and what you have to give.” Andin a quote from Spencer W. Kimball, “As we GIVE, we find that sacrifice brings forth the BLESSINGS of heaven; and in the end, we learn it was no sacrifice at all.”