Vertical and Horizontal
February 13, 2019
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. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Matthew 22:37-39
Vertical and horizontal are both so important to our relationship with God. Jesus said the vertical relationship between us and God is of first importance. Loving Him with all our hearts, souls, and minds is foundational to the best outcomes in every other relationship we have. But we were not intended to only have a relationship with God. We were intended for vertical relationships as well. That is the second great command. We are to love others.
The second great commandment for relationship with God is very specific.
- It is like the first. Important, God-given, a command not an option.
- It is a command to love. Not tolerate, not endure, not like. We are to LOVE in words and deeds.
- It is a command to love our neighbors, whoever they are. One good definition of neighbor is “whoever shares the space with you.” Our planet is our space. Everyone who is on the planet is intended by God to be a target and recipient of our love.
- We are to love all of these people the way we love ourselves. How do we do that? We prioritize ourselves, we protect ourselves, we provide for ourselves. We give mercy and understanding to ourselves. That is the way we are to love others.
God is not impressed with us when we try to only love Him. We get His attention and applause when we prove our love for Him by investing in the others for whom He died.
- With a renewed appreciation of who your neighbors truly are, make a weekly prayer list of people who merit your prayers and active love who haven’t even been on your radar.