First Priority

What would you say the most important Bible verse is in the Bible?

Jesus answered, "The first 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.'

Jesus said our first priority in life should be to love God. Our responsibility is to respond to God's love, which is reaching out to us on every side -- reaching out in nature, reaching out in the supply of all that is being given to us day by day. We are never to forget that the things we enjoy -- the food, the air, the sunshine, the shelter -- all these material things of life that we need -- come from the hand of God. It is God who gives them. It is God's goodness protecting us, sheltering us, and watching over us that keeps us from being ravished and destroyed by the forces that are at work for evil in our lives. God's sheltering hand is protecting us. So when you think about the love of God, and especially the love that redeems us, the proper and only response of the heart is to love God back with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.

The second is this, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these."

Mark 12:28-31

Learning to love other people is a lifelong goal. The very nature of love means that it must be ongoing. For this reason, the power of God must be present to enable us to love others. Our love for others flows from our love for God. There is no one that God cannot love through us!



Love God first and then love other people – our 5yr. old preschool lesson for Sunday! It spoke to me!

"We love, because he first loved us." 1John 4:19