The Parable of the Good Samaritan (2) - All The Good Seed Daily Devotionals for 2025

So he answered and said, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbour as yourself.
Luke 10:27

The Parable of the Good Samaritan (2)
“What shall I do to inherit eternal life?” a lawyer had asked the Lord Jesus. Jesus had referred him to the scriptures of the Old Testament. What was to be found there? Let’s summarise what the lawyer answered: You shall love God and you shall love your neighbour. “You have answered rightly,” the Lord replies. The first commandment of loving God seems settled for the questioner. Apparently, he assumes that he loves the eternal and almighty God sufficiently. But is this really the case?

How faithfully and reliably God had taken care of His people Israel since the time of the patriarchs! God had said to them: “The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples; but because the Lord loves you, … the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from … the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt” (Deut. 7:7–8). Yes, God had not only redeemed them, He had also loved them constantly. But had they returned His love? And what was the questioner’s love for God like at the time of this conversation?

After all, loving God means first of all that we are interested in Him. When we love a person, we want to learn as much as possible about them, spend time with them and make them happy.

It’s the same with God. The first and most important commandment He has given is for men to love Him. But haven’t we human beings failed in this all along the line? This question – What about our love for God? – is something we should ask ourselves.

(to be continued tomorrow)

Today’s reading: Job 40:6-24 · Acts 19:13-22