Greatest Commands: Love God, Love Others

If you’re like me, you tend to overuse the word “love.” “I love that color on you.” “I love my morning coffee.” Do the feelings I have when enjoying a good meal really compare to what my grandparents shared? Of course not.

My Grandma and Grandpa Juriga were the best example of love in my life. They loved one another in such tender ways… holding hands, opening doors, folding laundry, cooking breakfast, watching their favorite game shows, traveling to see their children and grandchildren. Their love wasn’t just spoken—it was shown in a thousand small actions every day. Real love is an action. It’s something we do through serving, sharing, paying attention, and listening. My grandparents showed me this truth every day in how they cared for each other.

My grandmother had a stroke and passed away, and my grandpa was heartbroken. I felt a deep ache in my heart—a physical sensation of caring so much for him it hurts. Have you ever loved someone so much it hurts? It’s not just a romantic love. Parents feel it when they first hold their child. I saw it in the eyes of a friend who spent every day for months at the hospital beside her brother during cancer treatment. She was exhausted but unwavering, putting her life on hold because her love wouldn’t let her be anywhere else.

This ache moved me to action. After Grandma passed, I mailed Grandpa a card every week because I wanted him to know I loved him—I didn’t want him to feel alone. Every single week, he wrote back and put a $5 bill in his card. (It meant so much to me that he felt the need to care for me with that weekly $5—it showed his love for me.) I traveled from Peoria, Illinois, to Charleston, Illinois, once a month just to spend a couple of weekend nights with my grandpa. My grandfather taught me that love isn’t just a feeling—it’s showing up, it’s consistency, it’s small gestures of care repeated day after day.

These human examples are glimpses of God’s perfect love. God’s ultimate display of love was sending his son to die on the cross for us. This depth of love can be hard to grasp, especially when we’re hurting or suffering, but it’s central to understanding God’s immense love for us. When I think about Jesus’ sacrifice, I’m overwhelmed by a love so great that it would give everything for me without condition.

Truly unconditional love says, “I love you no matter what. Nothing you say or do will change how much I love you. The worst thing you’ve done doesn’t define you—you are worthy of love simply because you are you.” This is how God loves us, and how God calls us to love others.

Understanding the depth of God’s love for us is essential before we can truly love others. That’s why the first of the greatest commands is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. In learning how to love and be loved by God, we discover what it means to love our neighbor. We can’t give away what we don’t accept or understand.

In our world, it’s hard to find consistent examples of loving our neighbor. We see violence, division, poverty, and mistreatment of others based on where they come from or who they are. The command to love our neighbor feels increasingly urgent, yet increasingly hard to fulfill.

I deeply believe that actively loving our neighbors, not just in sentiment but in tangible ways, can genuinely change our world. Each kind act, each moment of understanding, each bridge built across differences, is a glimpse of what could be. Less hatred. Less poverty. Less cruelty. Not because we’ve fixed everything, but because through our love we’re joining in God’s work of renewal, helping to create spaces where our world looks more like the kingdom of heaven, where all people can experience the love that changes lives.

My grandfather’s example and God’s perfect model are still teaching me what it means to truly love—not just as a feeling, but as a choice, a commitment, and a daily practice that changes both the one who gives and the one who receives. I hope you will experience the depth of God’s love in ways that transform your heart. May you feel his presence in both your joys and sorrows and let that love flow through you to everyone you meet. May you have the courage to love boldly, consistently, and without condition, just as God has loved you.