Two Commands

Focus

Today, we will consider our greatest purpose — to love God and to love our neighbors. Take a few moments to pray, honestly expressing how you feel about this part of your life’s purpose in this moment.

Listen

Mother Teresa — A Gift for God

“Put yourself completely under the influence of Jesus, so that he may think his thoughts in your mind, so his work through your hands, for you will be all-powerful with him to strengthen you.”

Howard Thurman — Jesus & the Disinherited

“Every man is potentially every other man’s neighbor. Neighborliness is nonspatial; it is qualitative. A man must love his neighbor directly, clearly, permitting no barriers between.”

Apply

How would your life change or be reoriented if you were to define your life’s purpose by Jesus’ two greatest commandments? How could you choose to love and be loving to both God and those around you today?

Respond

In the coming days, we will explore what it means to have a purpose centered around loving God and loving the people God has placed around us. As we close today’s devotional, we invite you to this simple prayer:

“Lord, open my heart, my soul, and my mind to love you and love and my neighbor.”