Do You Love the Lord With Everything?

All scripture references, unless otherwise noted, are from the King James Version of the Holy Bible.

"Thou Shalt Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind." The Lord was answering a question of a lawyer who had come to tempt Him. (See Matthew 22:35-40) The Book of Mark describes the same incident but says the lawyer was a scribe. There is no doubt in my mind that the lawyer/scribe asked the question to try to trip Jesus up that he might be able to accuse Jesus.  But when the Lord answered aright, he instead said, "Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he: And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. And no man after that durst ask him any question." (See Mark 12:28-34) Let me say that the devil will never catch the Lord Jesus off guard! 

A couple of things to note: 

     1) We are to love the Lord with everything within us.

     2) We are to love our neighbor as ourselves.

Jesus quoted Deuteronomy 6:5 when He said, "... thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might." It's easy to say we love the Lord Jesus. Who wouldn't after all He's done for us? We love Him because of He has supplied all our financial needs. We love Him because He heals us when we are sick, etc. But most of all we love Him because He first loved us in that He went to Calvary for us. But do we love Him with everything that is within us? Jesus also quoted Leviticus 19:18b which says, "...thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself..." Later on in scripture it says that to love your neighbor is called the royal law. (See James 2:8) That brings up the question asked of the Lord in Luke 10:29 by one who really didn't like the answer, "And who is my neighbour?" (See Luke 10:25-37) The answer is everybody. It is interesting to me that James didn't mention the first part of the commandment that Jesus gave. It is a given. We ought to love the Lord Jesus with everything.

But who are our neighbors? Are they just those close to us? Are they the folks who live next to us or across the street from our house, are they only our neighbors? What about our sons and daughters, are they our neighbors?  What about our spouses? Yes to all of these. Jesus was asked by the rich young man "...And who is my neighbor?" The answer to that question is whosoever whether you personally like them or not! Whether they are your best friend or worst enemy. The Lord Jesus is pleased if we show true compassion on even people we don't know, such as those who our missionaries are trying to reach. 

Jesus said in Matthew 22:40, "On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." In Romans13:8-10 Apostle Paul in agreement with the Lord said, "Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law." Again there is no mention of the first part of Jesus answer to the lawyer/scribe here, to love the Lord Jesus  is a given.

We all want above all else to glorify and praise the Lord Jesus. How better to do it than in obedience to the command of the Lord. Jesus said in John 13:34-35, "A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another." Included in that discussion are our neighbors. If we love whosoever we will fulfill the royal law which James said is to, "love thy neighbour as thyself..."