by Angie Lewis

Created on: May 09, 2010   Last Updated: May 13, 2010

Loving God is the greatest, most beautiful and fruitful responsibility we carry out as believers.  God commands that we love him with all of our being and in return we are given the ability to faithfully follow and obey his precepts for our life. The fact is if we do not put God FIRST in our lives we will be unable to fully humble our lives over to him;  Loving God with all of our heart, mind and soul is a requirement to loving our neighbor as we would our self. (Matthew 22:37)

We Love God When We Love Our Neighbor

Our love for God is demonstrated by how we treat others. (Romans 12: 19-21) We show God how much we love him through acts of kindness and compassion that we have towards others. The kind of love that Jesus talks about when “loving our neighbor” is not an affectionate or romantic kind of love but the willingness to sacrifice something in and of ourselves to help someone observe Christ working in us.

God loves even those who hate him, or those who do not believe in him and he asks us to do the same. (Matthew 5:43-47) When we demonstrate forgiveness and compassion in our marriage, kindness for our friends, non-judgment to strangers and encouragement to the downtrodden then we are loving our neighbor and storing up spiritual treasures in our hearts. This is how God works in us and gives us the ability to love others appropriately. This is what LOVE is all about. God has given us the gift to love others because we have made him our first love!

Jesus teaches us to “love our enemies” even if it is sometimes difficult to do. Treating those who are different than us, or those who have trespassed against us with contempt or judgment is not going to help them humble their lives to Jesus; and it won’t help our walk with God either. How often do we judge others when we ourselves are walking in error? This shows God that we care more about ourselves and what others will think of us then what God thinks. Who are we fooling?

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your father in heaven. He causes the sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even the

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