“Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Matthew 22:34-40 NIV

And really, this basic truth remains unchanged and stands as the foundational identifier for those who truly are followers of Christ.

Jesus said that many people would cry, ‘Lord, Lord!’ but stands apart from fellowship with Him in reality. He also said that people would know that we belonged to Him by the love that we share with one another.

Love stands as the foundation of the Law. God has desire for His children’s good. He works, in His perfect plan, for for the good of those who love Him. These plans are to prosper us and not to harm us. Plans based in His love for our hope and future. It is because He so loved us that He gave us His one and only Son, so that believing in Him, we wouldn’t die in our sins, but find eternal life in Him.

It’s not a placating love. It’s not a patronizing love. It’s not a show-off-y love. It’s not a love with a false-front. It’s not a love at a distance, a love just for looks.

This love dies to self. This love serves. This love disciples. This love equips others. This love teaches. This love humbles. This love obeys. This love respects. This love is sacred.

There are -so many- other qualifiers that define this unconditional love, but the root of it is in God. It mirrors His heart. It mirrors His will and mission. The Law of the Old Testament, the mission and message of the prophets, the work of Christ and His Church all work and move within this love. And for all those who claim God, this love stands as our defining characteristic. If this love for others, based in God’s love for us, isn’t present, then we are not abiding in love and we are misled as to the nature of what has been given to us in grace.

For those who claim to be Christians, but spew vitriol and hate, who ridicule and demean, who discourage and abuse…their claims are as thinly veiled as their motives.

All Christians are called to the same love. This is the love of Christ that we minister within, teach truth within, and again, abide within. Everything, as Jesus said, hangs on it.

This love keeps us from compromising the truth of the message we have been given. It draws us into the Scriptures to seek it daily. It is echoed all throughout God’s interactions with His children and His world. And as we examine this love, we are compelled to share in its fullness with anyone and everyone we meet. It is a love that must be communicated or it isn’t fully shared. This isn’t a halfway love or a love that allows us to hold grudges. This love is life. It is the love that compels us to ‘go’ and spread it everywhere.

So, as always, GoLove with your whole life by sharing it with others. This love that is larger than our lives or our efforts at description compels us forward. Go.