Love God, love neighbor

Mark 12:28-34 (TNIV) -

28 One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”

29 “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

32 “Well said, teacher,” the man replied. “You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. 33 To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

34 When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And from then on no one dared ask him any more questions.

My thoughts -

This seems simple, right? What's the most important thing to do? Love God. Also, love your neighbor. If whatever you do is weighed by asking yourself "how is this loving God and my neighbor?" it's going to be very difficult for you to do wrong.

I also love how Jesus was asked what the one most important commandment is and yet he answered with two. It makes sense, though. How can you love God without loving others? I don't think it's possible. If we are to love God with everything we've got then we have to love those whom God has created. To love God but not love our neighbors would be impossible.

We have a way of making simple things much harder than they have to be. Jesus has distilled the law into a pretty easy thing for us to grasp here. Love God. Love neighbor. Done and done.