When a Pharisee asked Jesus which commandment is the greatest in the law, Jesus did not give just one law as an answer, but two: "Jesus said to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself" (Matthew 22:37-39).

Jesus' summary of these two commandments shows us how important they are: "On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets" (verse 40).

In an epistle the apostle John wrote several decades later, we see how he understood what Jesus said: "If someone says, I love God, and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also" (1 John 4:20-21).

Why is it so important for God that we love our neighbor? Because He loves him! That is why He sent His son into the world (John 3:16). The apostle John emphasizes this important aspect of Godly love:

"He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another" (1 John 4:8-11).

Love of neighbor is a reflection of God's love!

With these thoughts I wish everyone a rewarding Sabbath!