“Love your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind….

“And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength—this is the first commandment!” (Mark 12:30)

As I meditated on this verse, several thoughts shook my mind that I am sure will change your thinking as well.

So, “thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart...”

What does it mean to love?

1. To love means to sacrifice.

If someone tells us the words “I love you” and does nothing to confirm their words, we always understand inside that this person is a hypocrite. If a person loves, he donates time, energy, health, money.

2. Loving means spending time.

If you love a person, you want to be close to him. If they tell you “I love you, but I’m very busy,” you feel in your heart that “something is wrong.”

3. To love means to believe, to trust.

The Bible says: “Love believes all things, hopes all things, forgives all things, endures all things.” loving person has no doubt whether to believe or not to believe the words of his loved one.

We briefly examined what it means to love, now let's look at what the word “commandment” means?

1. The commandment is the spiritual constitution of a Christian.

In our country we have supreme law- the constitution, and all other laws are subject to this constitution. So in the life of a Christian, any rules, principles, traditions, etc. - everything must be in subordination to the highest spiritual law of a Christian - the commandments of Christ.

2. The commandment is practical guide, instructions for life.

So, what does the commandment mean: “Thou shalt love Thy Lord with all thine heart” - this is our spiritual highest law, and also a guide for our practical life– how to live correctly so that you don’t have to regret wrong decisions and actions.

Churches sell spiritual literature, as well as what I call “spiritual popular literature,” which explores the Word of God but also adds a little psychology, modern philosophy, and modern worldview. In the same category I include books that offer not biblical the doctrine of priorities. The authors suggest: the first priority is faith in God, the second priority is caring for the family, the third priority is serving God.

Let's look at each priority individually.

Imagine a person who asks: “Lord, I believe in You, am I doing the right thing, am I doing a good job? Yeah, good Lord, and now I’m going to fulfill the second priority - now I need to take care of my family, I’ll work, I’ll study, I’ll go with my beloved daughter to buy her very fashionable clothes to communicate with her, I will barbecue with my son in order to communicate closer with him and spend time. And you know, Lord, when I have a few free minutes, I will immediately come running to serve you.” Sounds kind of strange, doesn’t it?

Another example: Your wife or your husband comes up and says: “My love, I love you, do you believe me?” -"Yes I believe you!" “Oh thank you, I’m so glad, well, I’m off, I’ve completed the first priority, now I’m going to fulfill the next one - I’m going to take care of the children, and when I finish taking care of the children, I’ll definitely come back to you if there’s a minute or two left.” Strange communication between lovers, isn't it?

Now I want to say an even stranger thought - what will happen in your mind if I tell you that by living according to these priorities, you are fulfilling the first priority together with demons?!? It is written in the Bible that demons believe and tremble. And you know, they sometimes fulfill this priority better than the believers themselves do, because demons not only believe, but also tremble. But what if I told you that the second priority with you is carried out by murderers, rapists, they also take care of families, they also spend their time with children, they also do something good. And you know, it turns out that only at the third priority do believers differ from demons and sinners. Moreover, a lover necessarily believes, but a believer does not necessarily love the Lord.

And if Jesus had come to this place and said: “I will now tell you the most important thing, the most important thing - this is the fulfillment of the commandment “not only believe, but also love the Lord Thy God with all your heart,” then, probably, one of people would stand up and say: “Jesus, you don’t understand that we live in a different world, we have a different psychology, the time is different, life is different. We need to somehow add our priorities to this commandment, and then everything will work out well, and then our families will also be fine.” What would Jesus say to this? He would probably have said: “Yes, I know what the word “priority” means, and if this word for you means the same as a commandment, then that’s good, but if it’s something other than a commandment, then this teaching needs to be abandoned and returned to biblical teaching"

Natural questions arise: “What about the family? What about the children? What about spending time with your family? What about the annual family cruise? What about love for the homeland, love for art? Is it really necessary to leave all this for the sake of love for the Lord? It’s easy for me to say, and I say this often, - the only reason why I am a believer is because I saw my father praying. And you know, before he passed away into eternity, my father told some incidents from his life. He once told us that when he became a senior presbyter in the Minsk region, he had to travel a lot, and had to be away from home for several weeks. He said: “I felt that I was moving away from my family, and therefore I began to pray to the Lord - what was the right thing to do in this case, and the Lord said: “Do what I called you to do, I will take care of your family Myself.” I am at a loss as to what would have happened to my father and what would have happened to me if my father had left the ministry and gone with me to barbecue. Maybe we'd have a good time and maybe my dad would teach me good things, but what really changed my life was not spending time together, which in itself is not something bad, but those days when I got up early in the morning and heard my father praying. He prayed in a half-whisper, but it was such an emotional prayer, and it was so strongly felt that this communication was so precious to my father. And when my father sacrificed the time he could devote to his family, I saw that he did it because he loved the Lord so much, and not for his own gain. Fervent love for the Lord, rather than following good priorities, is what changes a person's life and environment.

What is the second commandment that Jesus gave? “Love your husband, wife, children, homeland, work as yourself”?... I know what is in your heart now - one half of the heart shouts “yes!”, and the other shouts “no!” What's the right way? I think that Jesus would say here: “If you love the Lord with all your heart and love your neighbor, that is, some distant person with whom you are not familiar, but about whom you learn that he needs your help, then that love , which is in your heart, will be like huge streams of water, which will be enough for your neighbor and for your loved one, for your children and for the people around you. As it is written, rivers of living water will flow from the womb, from within, and this is what will supernaturally change both children and life circumstances.

A Christian who loves the Lord and loves his neighbor radiates enough love that even a short time spent with children will be enough for their lives to be supernaturally changed in better side that will never replace the hours spent at the barbecue of a father or mother who is a believer but does not love the Lord. Those who love the Lord are given wisdom in managing their family and finances and their time and energy, in such a way that those questions that they have to answer are supernaturally resolved. ordinary people It takes a lot of time, money and effort. For me, a few minutes spent with my father was enough compared to those who supposedly loved their children, fulfilling their priorities, barbecuing with them, and their children, not seeing the love of the Lord, remained believers, but did not love the Lord.

Some time ago, one of our pastors shared his experiences with us and said: “I worry about my son, he goes to church, but there is no fire, faith and desire inside.” And during one prayer, the Lord told him this: “As you do with My children, so I will do with your son.” And you know, this pastor also has a choice - he can leave you, his ministry and start barbecuing to teach his son, spend time with him, trying to influence, but there is no guarantee whether his son will be in the church after this. But if this pastor fulfills everything that the Lord told him, then God is guaranteed to fulfill his Word.

Jesus once asked Peter, “Do you love me?” Peter, after his denial of Jesus, did not have the courage to confidently say “yes!”, but he also could not say “no”, because somewhere deep inside he knew that he loved the Lord, and that is why he gave such a crumpled answer “You know, Lord...” Jesus, without reproaching or reproaching for renunciation, says - don’t just believe in Me, don’t just say what you love, but DO according to what you believe and what you say. And this is no longer something abstract, amorphous, but concrete actions- feed my sheep.

Let us love the Lord, our neighbor and each other, as the Apostle John writes - “... not in word or tongue, but in deed and truth” (1 John 3:18)

Dmitry Silyuk, Master of Theology

New Testament

The main commandment of Jesus Christ is love for God and neighbor

More than once people asked Jesus Christ what is most important in His teaching in order to receive eternal life in the Kingdom of God. Some asked in order to find out, while others asked to find an accusation against Him.

So, one day a Jewish lawyer (that is, a person who studied the Law of God), wanting to test Jesus Christ, asked Him: “Teacher! What is the greatest commandment in the law?”

Jesus Christ answered him: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. This is the first and greatest commandment. The second is similar to it: you shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these In two commandments all the law and the prophets are established."

This means: everything that the Law of God teaches, about which the prophets spoke, all of this is entirely contained in these two main commandments, that is: all the commandments of the law and its teaching tell us about love. If we had such love within ourselves, we would not be able to break all the other commandments, since they are all separate parts of the commandment about love. So, for example, if we love our neighbor, then we cannot offend him, deceive him, much less kill him, or envy him, and, in general, we cannot wish anything bad for him, but, on the contrary, we feel sorry for him, we care about him and are ready to sacrifice everything for him. That's why Jesus Christ said: " There is no other greater commandment than these two."(Mark. 12 , 31).

The lawyer said to Him: “Okay, Teacher! You have said the truth, that to love God with all your soul and to love your neighbor as yourself is greater and higher than all burnt offerings and sacrifices to God.”

Jesus Christ, seeing that he answered wisely, said to him: “You are not far from the Kingdom of God.”

NOTE: See the Gospel of Matthew, ch. 23 , 35-40; from Mark, ch. 12 , 28-34; from Luke, ch. 10 , 25-28.

On the 15th week after Pentecost - Matthew 22:35-46.

And one of them, a lawyer, tempting Him, asked, saying: Teacher! What is the greatest commandment in the law? Jesus said to him, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind: this is the first and greatest commandment; the second is similar to it: love your neighbor as yourself; All the law and the prophets are based on these two commandments. When the Pharisees had gathered, Jesus asked them: What do you think about Christ? whose son is he? They say to Him: David. He said to them: How then does David, by inspiration, call Him Lord, when he says: The Lord said to my Lord: Sit on My right hand, until I make Your enemies Your footstool? So if David calls Him Lord, how can He be his son? And no one could answer Him a word; and from that day no one dared to ask Him.

The Lord sets the measure of love for one’s neighbor as a person’s love for himself. Therefore, in order to fulfill the Savior’s commandment, we must first understand: how can we love ourselves? At first glance, it’s simple: do whatever you want. And if you can’t immediately do everything you want, then you need to strive to create conditions for such a life. Money gives the opportunity to freely satisfy all desires. Therefore, you need to try to earn a lot of money as quickly as possible, and then live without worries for your own pleasure. Logical? Still would! This is exactly how most of our contemporaries build or try to build their lives.

However, despite all the logic and naturalness of such a life plan, conscience and common sense tell us that it is unlikely that the Savior had in mind precisely this kind of self-love. If our life were limited to a few dozen years spent on this earth, then, probably, nothing better could be imagined. But if we hope to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, then obviously we will have to shift our emphasis.

To love yourself means, during your earthly life, to create the prerequisites for our life to extend into eternity, so that both here and there we can be with God. How to do it? The entire Gospel is about this, the apostolic epistles are about this, the writings of the holy fathers are about this. And in short, the answer is given in today's reading: first of all, we must love God - love Him with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind. If the desire for God will be the defining beginning of our life, if approaching God will become our goal, and moving away from Him will be perceived as a semblance of death, then we will understand what is important and what is of secondary importance, what serves our benefit and what harms, where we show self-love, and where we cowardly give in to our passions.

If we love God with all our souls, it will become clear to us that the surest way to approach Him is to renounce our will and subordinate it to the will of God. Perhaps this is precisely what lies, if not the final, then one of the most important intermediate goals of Christian asceticism. After all, by subordinating our will, damaged by sin, to the all-perfect and good will of God, we place God, rather than ourselves, at the center of our lives, which means we strike a blow at our pride and selfishness. In return, we receive the gracious help of our Creator and Savior.

Therefore, living as you want is not self-love, but something the opposite. Actually, this belief was formulated a long time ago in the Russian proverb: “Live not as you want, but as God commands.” We know God's commands; all that remains is to put them into practice.

Okay, let's say we now know how to love ourselves. But how can we love our neighbors? My father got sick - we say: “Everything is God’s will!” – and we don’t move. The wife says: “Darling, we haven’t been to the movies for a hundred years,” and the husband replies: “Come on, this is all demonic, let’s better read the akathist.” The daughter asks: “Mom, I need new jeans,” and the mother responds: “Put on a skirt, shameless girl, and don’t forget to put a scarf on your head!” Something is wrong here, you must agree. But what? I think we will understand this if we re-read the words of the Savior. The first commandment is to love God. The second is to love your neighbor as yourself. Have we really loved God with all our souls - or is this just dreams and proud exaltation over our neighbors? If we truly love God, then we become like Him, we become capable of empathy, patience, and forbearance.

Man, truly loving God, will see the image of God in every person, will strive for active service to his neighbor. He who loves God with all his heart will find words to move his neighbor to heights of spirit. The one for whom God comes first puts himself in last place, and everyone else above himself, and therefore will not cut from the shoulder and teach from above, but will be friendly and bright with everyone who comes to him.

If we cannot testify to ourselves that we loved God with all our hearts, if we have not renounced this mortal world, then we need to be simpler and more modest with our neighbors. Do we wish ourselves health? This way we will help other people preserve it. Do we need rest and non-moral entertainment? Let us not deny this to our neighbors. Maybe, having parted with our blooming youth, we have become indifferent to clothes? But let's try to understand that not all people are like us, and that at a certain age such things may seem more important than anything else.

Where to start? Should we love God or focus on loving our neighbors? It is impossible to separate one from the other. Our love for God must be manifested, first of all, in faithfulness to Him, that is, in fulfilling His commandments - including the commandment to love our neighbors. We can show love for people in practice if we see Christ, our Savior and God, in every person with whom life brings us. And if we dare to apply this perception to ourselves, we will understand with what awe and reverence we should treat our own soul, our body and our life.