And He said to him, “‘You shall love ADONAI [the LORD] your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” Matthew 22:37-39, TLV
Simple Isn’t Easy. Context. During the time of Jesus, every Jewish soul who sat under the teachings of their parents and attended synagogue or traveled to the Temple, knew the answer to the question: “Which is the greatest commandment in the Torah?” (Matthew 22:36) These truths were fundamental to the Jewish faith — to Torah, the Law.
Love God. Love one another.
From the time the Finger of God wrote on tablets of stone (Exodus 31:18), to Moses transcribing ADONAI’s Torah (Genesis to Deuteronomy), it has always been Love God (Deuteronomy 6:5). Love one another (Leviticus 18:19).
Simple, yes? Yet, what happened in the Garden? The first couple chose power over God. Then the first child chose envy against his brother resulting in murder. Not an auspicious beginning for humanity.
Today, is no different. We still struggle with these simple commandments. What if every decision and action we made were filtered through these commandments? Love God. Love one another. It’s a beginning. Because we need the whole of scriptures to instruct us in how to love God. Likewise, we need the whole Bible to instruct us in how to love one another.
Fortunately, everything we need is self-contained in our Heavenly Father’s Word. It’s a great manual for living as a redeemed child of the Creator of the Universe. And Yeshua’s life is a beautiful demonstration for us of how to live.
It’s simple, but not easy: Love God. Love one another.
