Matthew 22:34-40

When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

This lively hymn from Ghana has always reminded me of the call on my life as a disciple of Jesus Christ. As I said in a recent sermon, being a disciple is simple, but it is hard. We are called to act as Jesus. We are to have a heart for service in how we care for our neighbor. As the song states, our neighbors are varied, but all are called to receive God’s love through our words and actions. The refrain is an appropriate prayer as we ask Christ to fill us with God’s love and show us how to serve our neighbors.

Prayer

Holy God, You call us to serve You by serving others; to love You by loving others. Strengthen us today to seek to do Your will, to walk in Your ways, and to find ways to serve our neighbors. Empower us and humble us to look past our fears, prejudices, and limitations to love Your children that we encounter today. Amen.