“Which is the first of all the commandments?” Jesus replied, “The first is this: Hear, O Israel! We easily say that the first commandment is to love. But looking at the text the first commandment of Jesus is to “hear.” This is not nit picking because it serves as a reminder that all that we do is simply a response to what God has done for us. The only reason we can love is because God has first loved us. That is why we first need to hear, hear that we are made in the image and likeness of God, hear that from the first moment of our existence we have been loved, hear that no matter we do we can’t change God’s mind about us, we are always precious in God’s sight. Only after we hear these things can we respond with love. How does the children’s song go? “Oh, how I love Jesus, because he first loved me.”
MARCH82024
By Church Staff
