Love Is the Key--Matt. 22:36-40

  36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?

  37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

  38 This is the first and great commandment.

  39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

  40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. Matthew 22:36-40

This passage of scripture has found its way into the forefront of my focus lately. I appreciate the purpose of scripture in revealing eternal principles for our benefit and learning. One principle and lesson to be learned here is the importance of love in our lives. If we can learn to first love God with all the capacity we currently possess and then, from there, branch out and love all others as we love ourselves, then we are well on our way to keeping the greatest commandment of all. 

Christ proclaimed that the commandments to love God and love others as ourselves was the foundation upon which "... all the law and the prophets" rests. In modern day, "the law and the prophets" is called The Old Testament, which was the Jewish canon of scripture in Christ's day. I think what Christ is trying to teach us is if we keep love as the motivating force for all we do and are, then we will find our capacities to keep all other commandments magnified. This is one reason why the commandment to love is the greatest. With love, you've got it covered.

My New Life

This woman, Stephanie, reminds me of the scripture from 1 Timothy 4:12, which states:


... be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.

and also, from 2 Timothy 1:7-9:

7   For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. 
8    Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord. . . but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God;

9   Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace. . . .

How I love a good miracle! I thank God for them; not that I require a miracle to remember that Jesus is the Christ, but that in seeing these miracles I have cause to further rejoice in the goodness of God.