Mark
12:30-31 “The
most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you
shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and
with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall
love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than
these.”
God desires that we love Him with
all our heart, all our soul and all our mind. After this He directs us to love
our neighbor as we love our self. Love is what a Christian is called to do in
all walks of life. As Christians, all of us are to exhibit this love.
God involves himself in our lives. He shepherds us in the
direction of Jesus Christ. This is no small task. His love for us exposes him
to those who know no love. It makes him vulnerable to the sufferings of others.
The Apostle Paul speaks of vulnerability when he writes
that "I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep...I face
daily the pressure of my concern for all [the people]. Who is weak, and I do
not feel weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn? “(2 Corinthians
11:27-29)
“To love at all is to be vulnerable.
Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If
you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one,
not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little
luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of
your selfishness. But in that casket--safe, dark, motion- less, airless--it
will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, and
irredeemable. The alternative to tragedy, or at least to the risk of tragedy, is
damnation. The only place outside heaven where you will be perfectly safe from
all dangers and perturbations of love is hell.”
(The Four Loves by C.S. Lewis)
Do not fall into the trap
of being discriminating with your love. The tragedy of life is when love is not
shared with God and others. It is too easy to become selfish with love.
