Blawenburg
Reformed Church
In Service to the Risen Christ Since 1832
Welcome to Prayer Corner
Dailyverses.net
When I fall on my knees
with my face to the rising sun,
O Lord, have mercy on me.
from Let Us Break Bread Together
Prayer Corner is a place for you to visit for inspiration and suggestions about how you can connect with God. It is our desire to help you reach out to God more often and in more ways. We hope that this connection will bring you more discernment, more peace, and more love for God and others... even for yourself.
The current Prayer Corner article is offered here. This and previous articles can be downloaded from the Archive.
Prayer Corner 45
Love God, Love Your Neighbor
By David Cochan
A scribe asked Jesus asked, “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
Jesus replied: “‘Love 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: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Matthew 22:36-40
New International Version
Love God and love your neighbor. It’s so easy to say these words, but so hard to put them into practice. We might think that loving God is a no-brainer. Why wouldn’t we love our creator? Then things happen in life, and we wonder if God has abandoned us. We wonder where this God, who we are supposed to love, is.
Neighbors aren’t just those who live near us. They can be in adjacent towns, states, or even countries. We may not know or agree with our neighbors, which makes it hard to love them. It takes self-discipline and commitment to God’s laws to love our neighbors, but God wants us to do just that.
When Jesus spoke The Great Commandment to his followers in Judea, he wasn’t talking about suggestions. These are statements originating in the Old Testament—Love God (Deuteronomy 6:5), Love your neighbor (Leviticus 19:18). Jesus called them commandments because this wisdom came from God, the great commander.
To live the Great Commandment, we must step outside ourselves and shed our self-centeredness. We must acknowledge that we don’t have all the answers to life’s problems, nor can we control every situation in which we find ourselves.
We are challenged to listen to God’s voice and follow his direction. One way to show our love for God is to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. God wants us to get along with them so we can have peace in our country and the world. God’s peace allows us to use our constructive talents to do good things. Without it, we create destructive energies that produce anger, frustration, and disharmony.
The Great Commandment is simple in its statement, but difficult in its implementation. Nevertheless, we must ask ourselves, “What kind of world do we want to live in?” If we want a peaceful, constructive world, the solution is to listen to God spoken through the words of Jesus, “Love God and love your neighbor!”
“If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.”
― Mother Teresa
Pray this petition to God by Edwin Hatch (1878) in response to The Great Commandment.
Breathe on me, Breath of God.
Fill me with life anew,
that I may love the way you love,
and do what you would do.
Amen
Listen to this song: Love God, Love Your Neighbor
Song created by Lee Veliko Bekir.