The covenant God made with His people in the Old Testament required all to keep the law. Then when God’s people fell short and couldn’t keep the law, a Priest had to offer sacrifices for the people’s sin, year after year. But now we live by the new covenant, in which Jesus Christ, our high Priest, gave His Life’s blood, for our sacrifice once and for all. We are completely accepted by a holy God, because of the Beloved Jesus! In the New Testament we are commanded not to walk by the law, but to walk in His Love. Jesus taught that the most important and significant commandment was to love the Lord our God with all our being- our heart, soul, and mind. Then Jesus said the second most important commandment is like the first: You shall love your neighbor as [you do] yourself. This God love living within us through the Holy Spirit does no wrong to one’s neighbor [it never hurts anybody] it fulfills and meets all the requirements of the law. Jesus taught, that these two commandments sum up and upon them (Love) depend all the Law. Our awesome God who created the whole universe wants us to love Him back! Pure love is not forceful; God will never force us to love Him as if we were robots. If He did, our response wouldn’t be true love, because love always gives a choice. We must first make the choice to receive the love God has bestowed upon us through Jesus Christ. When we choose to accept Jesus’ love, the Holy Spirit comes to live inside our hearts, and at that point, we have more power to love God back. As we mature spiritually, the love we have for God and others will grow. So, love the Lord your God first- love yourself- love others, this is our high calling!
“He replied to him, ‘You shall love the Lord you God with all you heart and with all your soul and with all your mind [intellect]. This is the great [most important, principal] and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as [you do] yourself. These two commandments “sum up and upon them depend all the Law and the Prophets”
Matthew 22: 37-40.