What is Most Important?

A group of Pharisees asked Jesus, “Which is the most important commandment in the Law of Moses?” to which Jesus replied, ” ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire Law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.” Matthew 22:37–40

Have you ever noticed neither of these two commands is part of the “Ten Commandments”?

Love the Lord your God Deuteronomy 6:5 “And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and strength.” And love your neighbor as yourself. Leviticus 19:18 “… “Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against a fellow Israelite, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.” Neither was in the ten commandments Exodus 20:1-17. When asked which commandment was the greatest, why didn’t Jesus select one of the Ten if, as some people say, the Ten Commandments are above all the rest of the laws of Moses?  

A question I would like to ask you is, are you keeping the Law out of Love for your creator, not expecting any favor or reward back from the Lord in exchange? Or do you try to keep them out of fear? Are you afraid of receiving punishment for not being faithful to the Law? Are you not aware that when you break one Law, you are guilty of breaking them all? And are you aware that your thoughts alone are enough to be guilty of breaking the Law? Lust and hatred = adultery and murder. Paul told us in Galatians 3 that no one becomes righteous because they have followed the Law. Jesus’s two greatest commandments are part of the Law but are not part of the Ten Commandments.

I am curious whether you want to show Love to your creator. Or are you wanting to feel better through the pride of doing more than what Christ has already done for you? I pray that my Good works come through the spirit living in me and a manifestation of the fruit of the spirit in my life, and not because I am trying to do something that even Paul could not do (Romans 7:15-20), which was to stop sinning. I love my creator. And I want to show him that Love without trying to get anything back. I’m a sinner and always will be. But I’m glad that my Savior’s blood covers my sin and that I am not required to try to do something I cannot do. I’ve been set free. I have been made clean. Not by anything I have done. But through the work of the death of Jesus on the cross and with the help of the Holy Spirit in me. I could not be free without His Love for me. I will not throw the gift of salvation away by trying to work for it. I will, however, keep Christ’s commandment to love one another. I want to live a sin-free life, but I will endeavor to do so through faith and not by works(Law) because I can’t; my salvation is a gift, not a reward. And it was freely given to me, not based on anything I have done, so I couldn’t become prideful because of it. Is your salvation assured because of what you have to do? Or has it been secured because of what Christ has done for you?

Let the message about Christ fill your lives in all its richness. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts. And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Colossians 3:16–17