Many people today want to be kind, fight for justice, and care for the hurting, while leaving God out of the middle. Love your neighbor sounds like the whole of religion, and loving God sounds abstract, even optional. But love for people without love for God runs out. We burn out, grow bitter at those who do not change, or quietly start using others to feel good about ourselves. Our goodness becomes another idol.
When Jesus was asked for the greatest commandment, He put loving God with all our heart, soul, and mind first, then the love of neighbor second. The order matters. God is not a rival to our love for others; He is its source. John says we love because He first loved us. Here is the problem: none of us keeps the first commandment. Our loves are scattered. Only Jesus loved the Father with an undivided heart, and He gave Himself for people like us. Forgiven through Him, we receive a love we did not produce, and it begins to flow outward. If your compassion is running dry, the answer is not trying harder to care. Go back to the One who loved you first, and let Him reorder your heart.
Associated Scripture
Matthew 22:37-38 (ESV): "And 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 great and first commandment.’"
1 John 4:19 (ESV): "We love because he first loved us."
[Verse 1]
The morning wind is blowing through the valley down below
I see the dusty highway where the weary travelers go
We’re looking for a medicine to heal the heavy heart
Trying to fix the finish when we haven’t found the start
We want to love our brother, want to wash away the tears
But we are only drifting through the passing of the years
We try to build a kingdom with our own two fragile hands
Forgetting who it was that carved the rivers and the lands
[Chorus]
Put the First Commandment first, my friend
And turn your eyes to heaven once again
Gotta love the Lord with all your might
To learn to love your neighbor right
[Verse 2]
I stood upon the mountain as the sun began to rise
And felt the quiet wonder wash the scales from my eyes
We talk of peace and justice underneath the open sky
But if we lose the Maker, then the river will run dry
You cannot love the picture if you turn away the Face
You cannot find the healing till you find the hiding place
So turn your eyes to heaven let the old rebellion cease
And find the only fountain of a true and lasting peace
[Chorus]
Put the First Commandment first, my friend
And turn your eyes to heaven once again
Gotta love the Lord with all your might
To learn to love your neighbor right
[Outro]
To learn to love your neighbor right...
Look up to the sky..
