You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul and with all your mind.  You shall love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:37, 39 NIV).

Recently as I was studying the Ten Commandments, I found Jesus’ response to the question asked of him by one of the Pharisees, “Which is the greatest commandment in the law?” (Matthew 22:36) As I pondered Jesus’ very concise answer, I made several discoveries.

First, Jesus effectively condensed ten commandments into only two which, if obeyed, make the other commandments unnecessary. If we love God with all our being, we will not worship other gods, take God’s name in vain, or neglect His Day. If we love our neighbor as ourselves, we will not murder, steal, covet, commit adultery or give false testimony against him, or neglect our parents.

At the same time, Jesus also, with just two sentences, turned a collection of “Thou Shalt Nots” into two very positive “Thou Shalts!” In spite of this, I’m afraid that far too often our lives are still governed by the negatives rather than the positives. We try to please God by observing all of His “Thou Shalt Nots” but never progress to what He longs for most—loving Him above all others and loving our neighbors as ourselves.

Heavenly Father, forgive us for our preoccupation with rules and our lack of love for you and others.  Amen.

 (Devotional from Homespun Faith, Reflections from the Seasons of Life, copyright 2014 Daisy Beiler Townsend. Available as paperback or Ebook: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Xulon Press. There are Links on this website on the Where to Buy Homespun Faith and Sarah’s Legacy page. Locally at Fresh Grounds, M & M Grocery, Leana’s Books, Penn Alps in Grantsville, Maryland, or from me 724-373-8445 or donaisy@neo.rr.com.)