Jesus said that the greatest commandment is to love God and the second is like the first, “love your neighbor as yourself.” Why is it like the first? Maybe it’s because God loves and identifies with people so much that Jesus said, what you do to others, (the least among us) you are doing to me. It seems that God is always pointing us back to Him or to others. One of the last commands that Jesus gave was to love each other as He has loved us. How much is that? Well, he died for us, so I would say, He wants us to love each other a lot.
It’s also the thing that is best for us. If we lose our life, Jesus said, we would find it but if we seek to save our life, we will lose it. Have you ever gotten lost in loving someone else? Have you ever been so lost in loving somebody that you’ve forgotten about yourself? Was there ever a time when a person you love was sick and you sat up all night caring or worrying about them without regard for yourself? Have you ever been so engaged in helping another person that you forgot to eat or sleep?
God does something great to our souls when we forget ourselves and focus on the needs of others. There is a maturing that takes place inside. It’s a change that causes us to know and experience the nature of Christ working through us. It seems counterintuitive when the everyone in the world is trying to work on their own selves and taking care of their own needs that God would say, “turn your attention to the care and needs of those around you and I will meet your needs and transform you into the best “You” possible. It’s a simple plan but requires that we trust God. That’s the kind of faith we need. That’s the kind of religion that the world is starved for. And if you demonstrate it, there will be people in your life who will want it.