Here are the first three of six steps to keeping the first and greatest commandment. On December 13th we will share the final three steps.
1. Know the first and greatest commandment. 
“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law?”
“Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment.” (Matthew 22:36-38)
Memorizing the first and greatest commandment keeps us focused on loving Jesus supremely. Obeying him becomes absolute fun and seeking him becomes our top priority. As a result, we experience the abundantly rich life he planned for us.
2. Hate everything that hinders love for Jesus.
“Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” (Hebrews 12:1)
People who fail at loving Jesus always ask themselves the question, “How would this or that hurt?” “I can be a Christian and do this.”
People who succeed at loving Jesus hate anything and everything that hinders their love for him. They use this question to direct their lives: “How will this help me love Jesus more?”
3. Shun social life that impedes love for Jesus.
We live and work among people who have never met Jesus. That’s fine. God put us here to be a witness of Jesus to those who don’t know and therefore don’t love him. But throughout Scripture we are told that we must be selective in our social life. We can’t choose who we work with, but we can choose and must choose who we fellowship with on a casual basis. One of the many, many verses that direct us to choose casual social companions that stimulate our love for Jesus is 2 Corinthians 6:17: “Come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.”
Loving Jesus wholeheartedly motivates us to surround ourselves with others who love him. Then people whose hearts love the Lord Jesus bless us and we bless them.
Be greatly encouraged,
Pastor James Fields
