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Last week, we talked about how ‘giving to God the things that are God’s’ is something we need in every aspect of our lives, even as we “give to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s”, to quote our Lord.
This week, we hear how to give to God the things that are God’s, or rather how to let your faith guide you in all that you do. Today, we hear where to start that task. It begins with what sums up everything that has led up to Jesus coming among us: the Law and the Prophets, the Tanakh or the Hebrew Scripture we Christians often refer to as the Old Testament.
These are the words of the Two Great Commandments: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. And... love your neighbor as yourself.”
The key to our faith, the key to turning our lives over to God, is by renewing and restoring our relationship with God. That is what love really is. Love is about being in relationship.
Because God loves us, and because God came into this world to save all of humankind, loving God leads us to do the same thing God does: loving others. Loving our neighbor is how we continue to do the work God has given us to.
This can be a hard thing to do at times. Our neighbor may do things we don’t like. Our neighbor may not take events, like this Pandemic we are living in, seriously. Our neighbor may be rude and mean to us. But when we stop and look at our own actions, we will realize there is much that God has forgiven us for. We will also realize, as Jesus has told us before in our journey through the Gospel according to Matthew, that we are called on to show the same forgiveness we have received to others.
If you really want to make God the front and center of your life and if you really want to give God everything you have, then these Two Commandments are the ones to center your lives around. Love God and be in relationship with Him. But love your neighbor too, even when there is a lot to forgive because we too have had a lot forgiven with us.