Love God and Others Daily

After a group of religious leaders failed to trap Jesus with his words, an expert in the law thought he’d try by asking him a question he thought would surely catch him out. He asked him to share which of all the commandments is the greatest in the Law. Matthew shares the response.

He said to him, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and most important command. The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands.” (Matthew 22:37-40 CSB)

This is our calling.

These two commands encapsulate not only the Law of Moses but also the essence of the Christian life. If we follow Christ Jesus’ example in loving the Lord our God with our hearts, souls, and minds, and then love others as he first loved us and as we are blessed to be loved, living out the Christian life will flow unincumbered.

It is by growing in and living out these two commands that we make disciples of Christ among the nations. Jesus didn’t say “go and change the world,” or “go and create a theocracy of your nation,” or “go and start a revolution in my name.” Instead, he said, “as you go, make disciples of all nations.” What does that mean?

With each step in our life journey, we are to make disciples of Christ—i.e., tell them the good news about all that Christ has done and as they come to faith, baptize them and teach them everything you’ve learned and help them to obey as you model that through your words and life.

Examples of the called life.

While some move from home to other cities or nations in obedience to his command, and I could write for days about their examples in some very hard places of this world, my thoughts today are on those who have also lived out this command closer to the homes where God planted them.

In recent days, I’ve thought about my late father, who would have been 100 years old this year. The only real traveling he did was to visit me and my family in the Middle East; otherwise, he never lived more than a two-hour drive from his birthplace. Still, he modeled loving the Lord his God with all his heart, soul, and mind, as he read his Bible daily and spent countless hours in deep and concentrated study in order to teach others. He was not just a Bible teacher but a man who loved others well. He was a great listener, prayer warrior, and mentor for many.

Other faithful servants are two women I’ve been privileged to cross paths with and watch as they’ve lived lives of devoted service to God’s Word and God’s people. One is Vicky Watts, now a widow, but also a long-time pastor’s wife in both Mississippi and Tennessee. I’m sure she was invaluable to her dear husband, as he preached and served out his duties as pastor, but she was also a woman who exuded a love for Jesus like few I’ve seen. Because of that close relationship with her Savior, Vicky loved people. I watched her in action, always looking to the needs of others, never tiring in her efforts to serve. Even after her dear husband passed away, she pressed on, checking on others, making phone calls, and becoming active in her new church after she moved.

The other saint in her level of service and faithfulness is Thelma Cummings. I met her at my local church and have watched her tireless activity for the good of others. Out of her love for the Lord and his Church, she makes sure that those who are stuck at home can receive the Lord’s supper and receive a one-on-one Sunday School lesson. She doesn’t want them to feel isolated from the Body of Christ or his fellowship. I have never seen anyone recover from a broken hip as quickly as Thelma, and I realized that her motivation was to be able to continue serving others.

Though there are many others, I have one more example of faithful disciple-makers to share. Her name is Emily Baskin. Again, I came to know her over the past several years and have watched as she navigated grief by returning to the service of children in our church. Many of us look to those who go overseas or to the hard place as great in faith, but we forget those who have spent decades in teaching the “least of these” in the form of the precious souls of children. Emily has not only taught second-graders in Sunday School for over three decades, but she has also led our church’s efforts in training grade-school children in Bible drills, leading untold numbers to memorize and find God’s Word with ease. As one who participated in Bible drills in my younger years, I know what it means to be able to recall one of those verses in times of need and to be able to find verses in my Bible.

Changing the world—one person at a time.

As they have gone through their daily lives, Tom, Vicky, Thelma, and Emily have made disciples for the cause of Christ by loving the Lord their God first and foremost and then loving others by giving their lives in service—not in the big and flashy styles of this world, but in the constant, consistent, sacrificial, and loving way of Christ.

I look forward to the day when we can all watch them stand before the Lord, as he reveals just how many are standing in his presence on that great day as a result of their commitment to love God and love others, making disciples as they went through this life on earth. Who will get the glory? God and God alone.

Who are the faithful saints in your life? May we follow their example until we, too, can hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

Grace and Peace

If you missed the last Wednesday Wisdom, click HERE, or check out these other posts about faithful service: We Grow Old While Serving, Springs of Service, What Defines a Life?, Thankful for Role Models.