Inspirational Article From Joanne Lowe Index of Writings by Joanne Lowe on Gospel Web

THE GREATEST COMMANDMENT

“But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together. Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto 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 great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

Matthew 22: 34 – 40 King James Version

Many years ago when I was in the hospital for depression, I was sitting next to a man. All of a sudden, he got agitated and upset and he doubled up his hand and put his fist through a plate glass window. There was blood everywhere. All the attendants jumped on him trying to keep him from breaking more windows. Yes, the man needed to be stopped from breaking more windows but more than that this man needed to be loved by someone.

I could tell you things that happened in the hospital when I was there that would break your heart. There are many lonely and frightened people in the hospitals. The sad and tragic thing about this is that there are people who are not in the hospitals that are hurting inside and desperately need to know that somebody really does care about them. Some of these people are people that we see every day at work and some of these people are in our own families.

Joyce Landorf, a speaker and author, said on one of her teaching tapes while talking about the people we sit next to in church “They look fine and they look darling but inside they are hurting”. All of us have worn masks at one point in our lives to keep people from seeing how we are really feeling. It is a scary thing to share the pain, agony and loneliness in our hearts because of the possibility of being ridiculed, rejected and misunderstood. When somebody does share with us, it is not our job to fix them. We are to pray for them and hug them for Jesus.

Jesus has not been here for over two thousand years. He has left us to hug for Him. When is the last time you hugged somebody and said “This hug is not from me. It is from Jesus”. Jesus is the only one who can mend a broken heart and a broken life. He is the only one who can take the fragmented pieces of our hearts and lives, put them back together and make us whole again.

The only one who never wore a mask to hide His feelings was Jesus. He has exposed His heart for each one of us to see but it is up to each one of us to spend time with Him and get to know what makes Him happy and what makes Him sad. Do you know what His favorite color is? Have you laughed and rejoiced with Him when a sinner was saved? Have you wept with Him over lost souls and over Christians who have gone astray?

It is very important and also urgent that we love one another as God has commanded us to love each other. There are people right this minute who are thinking about committing suicide. We can preach, teach, write, sing, evangelize and do all kinds of good deeds but if we don’t love people unconditionally, all of that means nothing to Jesus. It is not easy to love people as God has commanded us to love them. In fact, it is impossible unless we allow Jesus to tune our hearts and fill our hearts with His compassion and unconditional love.

Do you love Jesus with all of your heart, with all of your soul and with all of your mind? Is Jesus the center of your affections? Do you give Him first priority in your life? Have you surrendered all of your time and everything that you have to Him? Again, do you love Jesus with all of your heart, with all of your soul and with all of your mind?

Joanne Lowe

September 18, 2007

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