The greatest commandments
Choosing to love people will rarely be easy – one way or another it will always cost us something… but God’s agenda for us is to love… it will define us as disciples… so fundamental and yet how quick I am to forget… :(
Mathew 22:37-39
“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.”
John 13:34
A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.
1 Corinthians 13:1-3
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.
G. K. Chesterton
“Love means to love that which is unlovable; or it is no virtue at all.”
Amy Carmichael
“You can give without loving. But you cannot love without giving.”
[...] to ask what God’s commands are. Jesus says, in response to a similar question, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and wit… and I agree. The way these are worked out though involve a few others like “Do not conform [...]
Jesus spoke about two commandments being greatest for man, but can these commandments be greatest for God also?
God the Father loves all that he is with all of his heart, soul, mind and strength.
God the Father loves each and every one of us as he loves himself?
Jesus lived his life as a man here on Earth by the greatest commandments of God. But after his death and resurrection does Jesus still continue to love each and every one of us as he loves himself?
The greatest commandments do not seem out of place when searching for a meaning for Jesus the Son of God. The above is speculation on my part, but take some time to challenge this by asking some questions; Could God love each one of us more than he loves himself? Why did Jesus say the commandments are greatest, do they have a greatest meaning in Heaven also? Are the commandments a greatest image of God, and have we been created in this image of God?
Could the Trinity hang on the greatest commandments?
When Jesus spent his time on Earth, he would have lived by the greatest commandments, could these commandments be the greatest purpose of both God the Father and the Son?
Jesus loves God the Father with all his heart, mind, soul and strength.
Jesus loves each and every one of us as he loves himself.
God the Father loves Jesus the Son with all his heart, mind, soul and strength.
The Father loves each and every one of us as he loves himself.
Before the creation of the universe began, could the greatest commandments possibly describe part of the trinity?
Is it possible that God’s purpose is for each and every one of us to have this Trinitarian relationship with each other?
Could the spirit be the power of God’s love; working through the perfection of the greatest commandments?
1 Samuel 18-1
Jonathan became one in spirit with David, and he loved him as himself.
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In search of a Greatest or Ultimate Truth for God
Here is a child like and yet profound way to test the power of the greatest commandments; when looking for a purpose for the creation of the universe and life.
Did God have a complete plan for the creation of everything, did he think ahead? Were Christ’s life, death and resurrection planned before the creation of the universe began?
To search for a deeper meaning, was Christ freely given the choice to accept his sacrifice before the creation of the universe began?
Would it mean that the Father had a purpose for man so great, that creation could not be achieved in any lesser way?
What purpose can be so great, that it would compel God to create the universe and life, knowing in advance that his son would die?
Would it be to forgive the sins of mankind, or can there be something greater?
Challenge your mind to find a greatest good purpose for creation; by searching for answers to three questions.
What greatest thing can God create?
God could create all the stars and planets of the universe; he then becomes God the builder.
God could create a whole variety of life with almost no intelligence like plants; he now becomes God the gardener’
God could create life with more intelligence but if the knowledge is limited he has now created the animal kingdom. He now becomes God the farmer.
God could create life in his own image, a life that could understand him. Can God create anything greater than life in his own image, does he now become God the Father.
Does the greatest thing that God creates, depend on the relationship that he can have with them?
What greatest purpose can God have to create children in his own image?
Could love be the greatest reason for God to create children?
Could the ultimate God be a God who loves in the greatest way?
God the Father willingly loves all of mankind as he loves HIMSELF.
Can there be any greater reason to create children, even for God, can God love us more than he loves himself??
To find a greatest purpose for all God’s children.
What greatest purpose could God set for humanity? Would it be for everyone to turn to His kind of religion and pray the way that he stipulates, or would it be to banish poverty, gain intellectual superiority, conquer sickness and death, and subdue the universe or is there more?
If the greatest reason God could have to create mankind, is to love us, as he loves himself, then God could create mankind, with the freedom to return God’s love
All of mankind to be created with the freedom to love God the creator unconditionally, are we given the greatest commandment as a guide for this very purpose?
God willingly loves everyone as he loves himself; do we also need this same freedom to love everyone in the same way, so that the truth can be complete for God and mankind.
All of mankind, to be created with the freedom to love their neighbour; as they love themselves unconditionally; are we given the second greatest commandment as a guide?
Is this how God wants his children to be one? He wants us to love each other as we love ourselves.
In a way, God loves us more than he loves himself, because he was willing to do what was good for us but not good for him (send his Son to die). In a sort of contradicting way, God loves himself more than us, because he knows that he is the greatest being in the universe and retains the power of heaven or hell over us.
When you ask the question; why did Christ say they are the greatest commandment, can it possibly be because God can do nothing greater?
Could the greatest commandments be a Greatest an Ultimate Truth?
If our greatest purpose for creation is to live by the greatest commandments, then this freedom to love also gives us the choice to do both good and evil.
Are the greatest commandments powerful enough, to compel God to create the universe and life, knowing in advance the costs involved?
We can marvel at the great attention to detail that is evident in everything from the tiniest single cell of life and right up to the giant structures of galaxies. Can you find any greater purpose for all this to exist? Challenge the above statements in your mind in an honest way, test them against any religious beliefs, and test them against any form of logic.
Before creation began did God want to create us in the greatest good way possible and in doing so Christ had to serve man in the greatest way possible.
It seems that not only was Christ a servant to his disciples, but he is also a servant to my needs through his resurrection. My search has been to ask why Christ would say the commandments are the greatest things we can do, and to search for a greatest way to use them.
HOW CAN I AS AN INDIVIDUAL AND WE AS A COMMUNION LOVE GOD THE CREATOR ABOVE ALL ELSE, UNCONDITIONALY?
HOW CAN I AS AN INDIVIDUAL AND WE AS A COMMUNION, LOVE PEOPLE OF OTHER FAITHS AS WE LOVE OURSELVES, UNCONDITIONALY?
HOW CAN I AS AN INDIVIDUAL AND WE AS A COMMUNION, LOVE PEOPLE WHO ARE DIFFERENT TO US, AS WE LOVE OURSELVES, UNCONDITIONALLY?
HOW CAN I AS AN INDIVIDUAL AND WE AS A COMMUNION, LOVE ALL OUR NEIGHBOURS AS WE LOVE OURSELVES, UNCONDITIONALY?
Possibly it is to search for a greater sense of community and unity, I am a Catholic and this makes me as one with a Catholic in China, Brazil and Egypt. But they are not my direct neighbours and I will probably never come into contact with them.
My neighbours in my town are Baptists, atheist, Anglicans, Catholics, Muslim, Sikh, and many others; we are all created by the same God making us brothers and sisters together in community.
It is very reassuring to know that I can strive to be as one with a Catholic Community in my town and in any foreign country simply by walking into the church. But how do I strive to be as one with the diversity of God’s creation that exists in my town; with the Sikhs, atheists, Methodist, Muslims, Hindu?
A caring community supports people in need, the homeless, sick, widows, orphans, disabled, alcoholics. What a wonderful community it would be if a Muslim and a Sikh joined together to help a disabled Catholic. We might look on this kind of a situation as a rarity, but is this simply following in the footsteps of the Good Samaritan and the greatest commandments?
James 1: 27Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
Change has to come from within and start with me
Could the purpose for the creation of the universe and life Hang on the greatest commandments? Could the greatest commandments be compared to a hook to Hang your coat on; without the hook the coat falls on the floor. Could it possibly be without the greatest commandments there would be no universe as we know it?
When Christianity fails to Hang on the greatest commandments, Christianity falls, and we have schisms. Would it be reasonable to say that the Bible was written to give us an understanding of the laws and the prophets of God? It may be a task for theologians to try and define all the sections of the Bible that refer to the laws and prophets of God so that we may understand how much of the Bible HANGS on the greatest commandments.
Can the Gospel of the transfiguration, hang on the greatest commandments?
Moses is said to represent the law and Elijah is said to represent the prophets. Does all the law and the prophets hang on Jesus, the central figure in the transfiguration?
Jesus loves God the Father with all of his heart, soul, mind and strength.
Jesus loves each and every one of us as he loves himself?
When the people of Jerusalem shouted, crucify him; did Jesus forgive them, in order that he should still love them as he loved himself? When the soldiers scourged him, and nailed him to the cross, did he forgive them?
It seems that every time Jesus suffered injustice here on Earth, he forgave, in order that he should continue to love the sinners as he loved himself. After his resurrection does the divine nature of Jesus, follow his human nature? When Jesus ascended into heaven, does Jesus still forgive us, in order that he should continue to love each and every one of us as he loves himself?
At least we know that on the cross Jesus forgave, and if he can forgive the people who had him killed, then it should give us hope that we can be forgiven also. What kind of a burden do we place on Jesus with our sins?
This is only a collection of words to challenge the mind to think, I do not pretend to understand the meaning, or to make any claims of truth from these words. They are written without any qualifications, authority, or any conscious revelations from God.
I have sent this to you in the hope that if you should read it, that it may inspire you in some way, then you may also find it worthy to pass onto others who may also pray, meditate on and challenge these words further. My hopes are that they may help to inspire unity, interfaith relations and world peace in some way.
I do not wish to make any claims for copyright so you are free to rewrite this in any way that has meaning for you, distribute and do with these words, as you may desire.
God’s blessings and peace be with you
Eric Hyom,