Jesus was faced with the question of what was the greatest commandment and in true Jesus fashion he gave not one answer but two - love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself.
As Christians we believe that we are moved to action because of God's love for us, and it that everlasting deep love of God that allows us to love our neighbors. They cannot be separated from one another but instead go hand in hand.
The problem is the our Christian understanding of love is constantly butting up against a cultural idea of love that is hard to define. We use the word love to describe things we like, and as a result we begin to treat love of God and neighbor like anything else in our lives - something that will come and go.
Enter the Untied Methodist Church that teaches we love God with both our head (or intellect) and heart (or emotions). We love God with out whole being in such a way that it is deeply rooted in our being and cannot simply pass away. Now, there are certainly times we don't get love right, even in the church, as we sway too far towards emotions or intellect instead of seeking a balanced faith life. But my hope and prayer is that if we love God this deeply we cannot help but love others.
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