“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind and your neighbor as yourself”
– Luke 10:27 – expanded reading: Luke 10:25-28
In these four verses, Jesus teaches a lawyer about the way he can inherit eternal life. His teaching method is an exchange of questions and answers. The exchange was a common dialogue method among the rabbis. The lawyer asks Jesus, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus then asks the lawyer, “What is written in the law?” The lawyer replies, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” When the lawyer finishes his answer, Jesus responds, “You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.”
By modeling for our children that kindness, empathy, and compassion are God’s way of living here on earth and in heaven, we hope to show them that loving God and showing compassion for our neighbors and ourselves are one and the same. It is not possible to love God while ignoring the needs of our fellow man. How better to love the Lord our God than to show love and compassion to others? One can say that they love God with all of their heart, soul, strength, and mind, but showing compassion for others reveals that love through physical action.
God provides all of us with different skills that we can use to love our neighbors. We can show our care through emotional support, providing a hand up in times of need, and through other practical acts. In our jobs we have found that a well-timed smile or kind word can change the mindset of a child who is struggling with the world around them. These acts, like God’s love, must be unconditional as well. The scripture does not place exceptions on which neighbors to love. As Jesus teaches, we are to love all God’s children as we love ourselves.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank you for loving us completely and unconditionally. Forgive us for the times when we have kept our faith inside our minds instead of expressing it through our actions. Provide us with the sight to see the needs of our neighbors. Equip us with the selflessness to love all of our neighbors as we love ourselves. Amen
Written by the Richters family