Thought of the Day !!

When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” – Matthew 22:34-40 (NRSV)

The bulk of our lives are, I believe, driven by one or two basic emotions.  They differ from person to person and might even change over the course of a person’s life.  But there is something during any given point in our lives that determines how we think, feel and act.  This, of course, is a theory of mine, but just think about it. 

Some people are fear driven.  They make their decisions based on fear, or worry about what will or will not happen.  Some are driven by greed or lust.  They want more and more and do what they think is best to get everything that they want out of life.  Some are driven by jealousy or anger or rage.  These people always seem to be mad at the world.  And at the extreme end of this, rage, some are led to do very callous things.  Some are driven by sorrow, or grief, or depression.  I’ve seen where losing a loved one can take such a toll on a person’s life that they slide into a depression, which becomes their own little prison. 

There are more emotions, I’m sure, that guide us at different points of our lives.  The one that Jesus came to teach us to use is more than an emotion.  It’s love.  Love can be an emotion, but continues into much more.  It shows itself with caring actions that will benefit others even when they don’t benefit ourselves.

Jesus tells us in this passage that love is the most important thing that can guide our lives.  First of all is love of God.  Putting Him first in our lives not only pleases Him but also makes our lives, and the lives of those around us better.  The love of neighbor, or anyone else we meet, comes directly out of this love of God.  When we live our lives driven by love the world becomes a much better place and we make our Heavenly Father (as well as our Lord and Savior) proud.

May your day be driven by nothing if not by love.

In the love of Christ,      

greg