ALVARADO, TEXAS – Jesus counsels in Matthew 22:37-40 NIV to “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. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Can you imagine what the world would be like if every Christian followed these commandments? Each of us could provide a little taste of heaven here on Earth to those around us, if we embraced these commandments.
Just before Jesus died, He gathered His disciples together to emphasize the importance of His teaching. “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another,” John 13:34-35 NIV.
While it wasn’t technically a new command, Jesus emphasized that we are to love “As I have loved you.” That is a love so deep that it is kind of scary, because it never stops—no matter what. It is a consistent love. Jesus wants us to be the most loving group in the world.
Each of us, individually and corporately as a church body, can show that type of love to those around us, embracing them as they are, as Jesus did while here on Earth.
It is exciting to hear about the community service our Texas Conference family is doing year-round—from handing out water bottles and sleeping bags to people experiencing homelessness, to giving people a place to play and to connect by converting gymnasiums to pickleball courts or indoor skate parks, to giving knitting and sewing materials to maternity wards, to fire and police departments, to pregnancy centers and to other people and places needing a little encouragement.
When we show love to our neighbors—as Jesus counsels, without any regard for their lifestyle being different—we are being His disciples, His students. Jesus said, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” period. No asterisk. No qualifier. No prerequisite. Someone’s ethnic heritage or political leaning does not matter. Jesus tells us to love in all instances.
When Jesus died for everyone’s sin (not just those who love Him, but everyone), He tore down the wall we used to keep each other at a distance. Paul asserts in Ephesians 2:13 MSG, “Now because of Christ—dying that death, shedding that blood—you who were once out of it altogether are in on everything.” Christ brought us together through His death on the cross. That sacrifice enabled us to embrace a new life, one that should have no hostility.
Friends, God’s dream is for His church to practice loving people. He wants us to be true disciples who break down our pride, our prejudices and our self-righteousness to embrace each other because of Jesus’ ultimate love and sacrifice on the cross. Would you join me in embracing Jesus’ command to “love one another” and reach out to encourage each other in love?
By Elton DeMoraes, D.Min. president of the Texas Conference of Seventh-day Adventists
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A version of this article appeared in the July/August 2025 issue of the Southwestern Union Record.
