A couple of months ago, my middle schooler expressed to me that he thought following God was hard because there were so many rules. I said, Well, Jesus said all the rules in the Bible were summed up in just two: Love the Lord your God and love your neighbor as yourself. So anytime you’re wondering what the right thing to do is, ask yourself, is this loving God? Is this loving others as I love myself? That is your guide.
Then he said, That’s it? That’s so simple!
On one hand, it is that simple. On the other hand, as we grow older, we discover all the nuances in those two sentences and how they can be interpreted in many different ways. Sometimes, the loving thing to do is not that clear. Sometimes, it is that clear, but we simply don't want to do it.
Love the Lord your God. There’s a lot there, isn’t there? Not only acknowledging God as Lord but also serving Him as such. He is the one to whom we are accountable. We are to define ourselves in Him, and in nothing or no one else. We are to seek Him for all of our needs. We are to put Him above all else. We are to make Him the center and King of our lives.
Love your neighbor as yourself. Love is more than just a mushy feeling. It's certainly more than "sending thoughts and prayers." Love is an action. Love is taking steps to deliberately, purposefully, and intentionally care for other people. To want for them the same that we want for ourselves. To advocate for and defend their rights, same as we do our own.
Love your neighbor as yourself. As yourself. Do we love ourselves? Do we care for ourselves? Are we loving to ourselves? Do we speak kindly to ourselves and treat ourselves well? We cannot truly love others as ourselves if we do not love ourselves, can we? After all, it is do unto others as you would have others do unto you. But if we're willing to allow others to abuse us or put us down, will we stand up for others? No. We also have infinite worth and were created in the image of God. We must love ourselves so that we may also love others.
My worldview class this semester suggested that these two statements imply a third as well: to love and care for the Earth. After all, the very first command given to humankind in the Garden of Eden was to take care of the Earth and everything in it. The Earth belongs to God, and, therefore, if God is our Lord whom we serve, we should also take care of that which belongs to Him.
Also, people need a place to live. This Earth is our home. If we are truly loving others, we should take care of the world within which they live. Despite efforts to find another habitable planet or to colonize Mars, this is the only planet that was specifically designed for us. We should take care of it.
We make the two greatest commandments complicated with our systems and our greed and our bureaucracy. As a Church, as a people of God, we need to uncomplicate things.
Just love God.
Love others.
Love yourself.
Take care of the Earth.
It’s that simple.
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