We continue to look at love this month. Today, we look at who and how God commands us to love.

Luke 10:27, “²⁷ And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.”

Love God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind. Basically, love God with your all.

Love your neighbor as yourself. It is so easy to put ourselves first, but God says to love our neighbor with our all.

The natural question that comes is “Who is our neighbor?”

Jesus answers this in verses 29-37.

“²⁹ But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbour? ³⁰ And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. ³¹ And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. ³² And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side. ³³ But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him, ³⁴ And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. ³⁵ And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee. ³⁶ Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves? ³⁷ And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise. “

You can see that our neighbors are those around us who need us. As we love God with our all, we love those around us as ourselves.

What I love is that those of us who are isolated, disabled, and chronically ill can obey in this way. Love God. Love people.

As we go through our day, let’s remember to love as God commands us.