I've been tricked.

When Jesus was asked "Who is my neighbor?" it was meant to be a trap. He turned the trap and the question on its head masterfully by pointing out that the question was the wrong question. We are all to be the good "neighbor," not try and justify who we should or shouldn't love. We should be the good neighbor that shows compassion to all. I can hear the guy that asked Jesus the question think, "I tried to trick Him, and I've been tricked."

I think He does the same thing with the question of the greatest commandment... He turns it on its head entirely. Here's the passage from Mark 12:

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?”

“The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.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: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’There is no commandment greater than these.”

Did you see it? Well, if you didn't see it that's ok. Many of us have been taught that Christianity is about all these laws to follow, morals to live up to, and deeds to perform... or else. And we have been taught this so much that whenever the concept of love comes up, it manages to come through the same filter: another law to follow, a moral to live up to, a deed to perform.

The "turning on its head" above is this: you can not command someone to love. Go ahead. Try it. Go up to that girl you've had a crush on for the last year and say "Love me." That's not a flip we can switch. However, the wonderful part about this is that the only way we can fulfill that is by falling in love.

Right?

And if you are sitting there thinking, "yeah, but i must love my neighbor" or "yeah, but i have to do my devos" well then you aren't really doing either of that out of love. You're most likely trying to climb some sort of religious ladder.

So, then what?

Preach to yourself the Gospel over and over and over and over again until you realized you are loved. 100%. God has NO regrets about loving you. NO regrets about dying for you. NO hesitation about living in you through His Spirit.

You are created good.
Sin has tainted that experience.
Christ paid the penalty to remove the tainting.
You can live gratefully loved in response, on this side and the next side of eternity as a result.

The greatest "command" is this... a natural response to just how

LOVED

YOU

ARE.