“The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.” - Mark 12:31

Obedience. It is something we have been talking about a lot over the last few days. In Mark 12, there is a religious teacher who asks Jesus, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”

Mark 12:29-31 goes on to say, “Jesus replied, ‘The most important commandment is this: Listen, O Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only Lord. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength. The second is equally important: Love your neighbor as yourself. No other commandment is greater than these.’”

If you want to be obedient, start with these commandments. Love God (we talked about this yesterday), and love others. When you love God, you want to obey Him because you want to please Him. And what pleases Him? Loving others.

Listen, Jesus was a genius. He knew what He was talking about. If we lived by these two commandments - love God and love others - it would take care of pretty much everything. Almost (if not) every sin that is committed is a result of not showing our love to God or not loving others.

When we steal from someone, we are not loving them. When we commit adultery with someone’s spouse, we are not loving them. When we lie to someone, we are not loving them. Now, this does not mean that we do not love the person we sin against, but we are not showing love through these sinful acts.

If you want to be blessed by God, it starts with obedience. And where does obedience start? Right here, loving God and loving others. If you will follow these two commandments, everything else will work out. God will bless you. I can promise you that!