Higher Love

Upward Training 2

 Higher Love

    ³⁴Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. ³⁵One of them, an expert in the   law, tested him with this question: ³⁶“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” ³⁷Jesus replied: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’³⁸This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’  ⁴⁰All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.

 Matthew 22:34-40

       Jesus makes an extraordinary statement in this passage!  He clearly states that these two commandments, Love the Lord Your God with all you are and love your neighbor as yourself are the greatest. They are the foundation of all of God’s Word and the goal toward which all of God’s Word points.   He goes on from there to declare that all the Law and Prophets hang on these two commandments. 

Last year Upward Training focused on the first love, loving the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind and strength.  Upward Training 2 will be a focus on the second love, loving our neighbor as ourselves,  which we are calling Higher Love. Upward Training 3 will focus on a special type of loving our neighbor: loving the lost, sharing our lives and the gospel with those who need Christ.  We are called to live out the gospel with a Higher Love.