Read
Read Matthew 22:34-40. Read it again more slowly allowing your mind and heart to dwell on certain phrases and words. You may want to jot down on paper some of your questions and thoughts.
Meditate
During this COVID-19 pandemic there have been so many sound bites of information on the news and on the internet concerning the disease and how it is impacting our nation and the world. All of this information may seem overwhelming and too much to absorb. Our minds are easily filled with bits of data, but we end up feeling powerless, not knowing what to do.
The Jewish Law was a vast number of laws - 613 to be exact. But one of the questions Rabbis discussed in Jesus' day was which one of all the laws was the most important. The lawyer decided to test Jesus with this question. Jesus had a clear and unique answer. Jesus quoted the commandment to love the Lord from Deuteronomy 6:5 and added to it a command found in Leviticus 19:18 to love one's neighbor as oneself. Then he concluded: "on these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets" (Matt. 22:40).
Sometimes simplicity is what is needed to help focus us and to empower us to action. The Bible has so many things to teach us about God and his Son Jesus Christ. We may feel overwhelmed at exhortations from our pastor to read our Bibles. There is so much information; we may not know where to start.
Jesus' profound summary of the Law helps focus our attention and clarifies our primary responsibility to God and one another. This is a great place for young disciples to begin as well as an important reminder to us all of the central focus of our faith.
Pray
Lord Jesus, I want to be your disciple. Help me to obey your command to love my Heavenly Father with all of my heart, soul, and mind, and to love my neighbor as myself. Thank you for loving me and finding me. I choose to follow you this day without fear. Your love makes me strong. I praise you! Amen.
Reflect
"Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends."
Apostle Paul in I Corinthians 13:4-8a (ESV)
"If the things of this world delight you, praise God for them but turn your love away from them and give it to their Maker, so that in the things that please you you may not displease him. If your delight is in souls, love them in God, because they too are frail and stand firm only when they cling to him. If they do not, they go their own way and are lost. Love them, then, in him and draw as many with you to him as you can."
Augustine in Confessions, IV, 12
Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee
Joyful, joyful, we adore Thee, God of glory, Lord of love;
Hearts unfold like flowers before Thee, Opening to the sun above.
Melt the clouds of sin and sadness, Drive the dark of doubt away;
Giver of immortal gladness, Fill us with the light of day.
Henry Van Dyke
Listen
Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee - click on this Link