6 September | Teens
«Jesus said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.» Matthew 22:37-40
If there is one school activity that I have never enjoyed doing it’s book reports. Imagine having to read a 100-page book and summarize all that content in just a single page. Or having to summarize a 45-minute lecture/class in just 3 minutes? I confess, I have always found this very difficult! Summarizing something so extensive into something so brief is a real challenge.
Summarizing can be a challenge for us, but Jesus showed how brilliantly complex things can be summarized. In Matthew 22:37-40, He summarizes the entire Law of God in just two commandments: to love God and to love your neighbor. And this is one of the most used texts to back up the idea that we no longer need to keep the ten commandments, but in fact, these two commandments are a summary of the entire Law! They are the essence of everything God teaches us in the Bible.
The first four commandments talk about how we can show our love for God. The other six commandments show us how to love our neighbor. Jesus explained that on these two commandments “depend” all the Law and the Prophets. This means that the essence, the summary of the Law, is love!
Take Action
Give a one-page summary of what you learned from our devotionals. Then, challenge yourself to con-dense that summary into just one sentence. This will help you focus on what was most important to you!