when asked what the greatest commandment was, Jesus gave an answer that carries a lot of weight with it.  He says, “The most important is, ’Hear, O Isreal: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your 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.’ There is no other commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:29-31).  These two commandments carry so much weight with them.  We are called to Love the Lord our God (the Lord that is one), with all our heart, soul, mind and strength.  We are to love Him with every part of ourselves and likewise we are to love our neighbor as ourselves.  Considering our neighbors interest as more important than our own (Phil. 2). Laying down our lives for our brothers (1 John 3:16) even when that means we need to give to our brother’s to meet their needs (1 John 3:17; Acts 2:44-47). This is a weighty call. 

But the beauty of our Savior is that this call, this commandment, is not left up to us to carry out.  1 John 4 tells us that His love is perfected in us.  Our love is imperfect at best.  Even in our strongest days our love is still imperfect.  God is love and the fullness of love comes from Him to others around us and ultimately to Himself.  “We love because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19).

So, while the commandment is great, we are not left alone to carry it out.  There is the glorious power and love of Jesus Christ which is perfected in our imperfect love. “In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent His only Son into the world, so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation (wrath satisfying payment) for our sins” (1 John 4:9-10).

- one who loves because He first loved me