New Church Life July/August 2015 | Page 39

         for our friends. Those are the two great commandments. The Lord is asking us to give up our life for the sake of the two great commandments. There is no greater sacrifice. Listen to this: One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked Him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?” When a person struggles to give up something within that is wrong, and self-gratifying because the Lord has said it is wrong, there is a laying down of one’s life for the Lord Himself. “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” “Well said, teacher,” the man replied. “You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. To love Him v