How Can You Tell

Any Christian can tell you what the Two Great Commandments are. They are some of the most quoted words in the New Testament, as it should be, because they are the cornerstone of the entire Bible. Jesus responds to a scribe’s question about which of the commandments are the greatest saying: “Hear, O Israel: the LORD our God is one; and you shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Mk. 12:28-34)…On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (Mt. 22:36-40). (Also found in Lk. 10:25-28).

Knowing, memorizing, and preaching these words, is one thing, but one must always confront a very serious question with consequences both internally and externally: How can someone tell if you, or anyone else you encounter in your daily life, really loves God with their whole heart, mind, soul, and strength? You can tell by observing how they conduct themselves toward others (their neighbors) in their daily lives. More importantly, when I look at myself, can I say, in all honesty, that my words and actions toward others in my everyday experiences model my love for God?

We might ask here: “What does God love? He loves everything and everyone He has made. How do we know this? We can come to know how much God loves His creation and us by coming to know Jesus Christ, the beloved Son of God more intimately. We do this by reading, meditating on, and praying over the scriptures. In the word of God, we can observe Jesus’ words and deeds. In these we can see how he loved all those he encountered in the world with the same total love he had for the Father. Our goal in faith, then, is to become imitators of Christ.

As Christians, Jesus is our perfect model for how to love God with our whole being and how to love our neighbors as ourselves. But we also have great models to follow in men and women like ourselves, people like Paul, the Apostles, and the countless martyrs in every age up to our own. All of these have shown the depth of their love for God and for their neighbors, by sharing that love openly, serving others humbly, generously, mercifully, and justly, even when it meant sacrificing their own lives. These people show us with their lives that being imitators of Christ is possible.

It is in this kind of love, alone, that the world is made better. God’s love for us was expressed most profoundly by Jesus’ willing sacrifice of his whole mind, heart, soul, and strength on the cross. It was that depth of love that redeemed us from sin and death, once and for all. And every martyr, indeed, everyone who has been ridiculed, mocked, tortured for loving God openly in the world, has shown that this kind of love is not only possible but very real. If this kind of love seems missing in the world today, it is all the more important that I live this kind of love openly in my daily life, especially because few others are. Someone’s gotta do it, right? But if we do so willingly, we can be assured that God will be with us through it all.

With this kind of faith in, and love for God, I, too, can play my small part in answering Jesus’ call to lead others to God, the One who is the very source and goal of love itself. Lord, help me to grow in my desire to show my love for You by loving my neighbors, all others, more dearly, more clearly, and more purposefully, even when it is most difficult. Amen.