Matthew 22:34-40 - The Greatest Commandments

When the Pharisees gathered around Jesus in Matthew 22:34–40, one of them—a lawyer—asked, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” His question was an innocent question. He and they others were testing Jesus, hoping to trap Him with His own words. But Jesus’ answer didn’t just silence their debate—it cut straight to the heart of what it means to follow God.

Jesus simply 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. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

In just a few short sentences, Jesus had summarized the entire Old Testament. Everything God had ever commanded— every rule, every principle, every prophet’s message—was rooted in these two simple truths:  love God completely, and love others sincerely.

Jesus placed the love of God first for a reason. Before we can love anyone else rightly, we must love God fully. Loving God “with all your heart, soul, and mind” means giving Him first place in every part of life—our emotions, our choices, our thoughts. It’s not a partial or convenient love. It’s wholehearted devotion.

When we love God this way, obedience stops being a chore and becomes a joy. As Jesus said, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments” (John 14:15). Genuine love for God changes how we worship, how we spend our time, and how we treat other people.

Then Jesus added, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Real love for God overflows into love for others. John wrote, “He who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen” (1 John 4:20).

This love isn’t about convenience or preference—it’s about compassion, humility, and service. It’s the kind of love that forgives, helps, and gives even when it’s hard–especially when it’s hard! Jesus modeled that perfectly for us, laying down His life not just for His friends, but for sinners (Romans 5:8).

If we can understand these two commandments, everything else will fall into place. These commands guide our relationships, our worship, our priorities, and our purpose. The Christian life isn’t just a checklist—in a sense, it’s a love story:  God loved us first, and our lives are meant to reflect that love back to Him and to others around us.

In a world filled with complexity and distraction, Jesus brings us back to the center:  Love God. Love people. If we can do those two things faithfully, we will fulfill everything God ever asked of His people.

Acts 9:1-4 - What Paul Saw on the Road

Acts 9:1-4:  Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”

One of the stories that always amazes me in Scripture is Paul’s conversion. Paul was then known as Saul of Tarsus, the man who once hated Christians. He was stopped in his tracks by the risen Christ on the road to Damascus. In that blinding light, his physical eyes were closed, but his spiritual eyes were opened. What Paul came to see in those days of blindness can still teach us something about following Jesus today.

The first thing Paul realized was that he was a sinner. That’s never easy to admit. Paul had always thought of himself as a righteous Pharisee, doing the will of God. But now he could no longer hide behind his religion or his good deeds. He realized had been fighting against the very Son of God. That’s a humbling moment we all need—to stop pretending we are better than we are and honestly admit, “I have sinned.”

Paul also saw that the religion of his fathers couldn’t save him. Tradition is powerful. Many of us grew up with faith passed down from our parents or grandparents, and that’s a blessing. But we don’t inherit faith like eye color. Each of us must come to Christ personally and develop our own obedient faith. Paul had to realize that his upbringing and heritage, as valuable as they were, weren’t enough without obedience to Jesus.

Another lesson Paul learned is that his conscience wasn’t always reliable. He had always followed his conscience, even when persecuting Christians—but he was still wrong. That’s sobering, isn’t it? Sometimes people say, “Just follow your heart,” but Paul’s story warns us that our hearts can mislead us. Our conscience needs to be shaped and corrected by God’s Word, or it will never point us in the right direction.

Paul also discovered that prayer, as important as it is, could not wash away his sins. He had spent three days praying and fasting, but it wasn’t until he obeyed the command to be baptized that his sins were forgiven (Acts 22:16). Prayer is a gift for God’s children, but for Paul (and actually even for us), forgiveness only came through obedience.

And perhaps most encouraging of all, Paul saw that it was no disgrace to change. He had been wrong—terribly wrong—but instead of clinging to pride, he humbled himself and allowed God to transform him. The man who once tried to destroy the church became one of its greatest servants. That’s what grace does—it changes us from the inside out.

Paul’s story reminds me that it’s never too late to admit we’re wrong, never too late to repent, never too late to obey Jesus. On the road to Damascus, Paul lost his sight, but he gained his vision. And maybe that’s what we need too—not just to see the world with physical eyes, but to see our lives clearly through the eyes of Christ.

John 3:1-3 - Nicodemus: From Darkness to Light

John 3:1-3
Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.”
Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”

Nicodemus is one of those fascinating figures we read of in the Gospel of John. He wasn’t a fisherman, tax collector, or ordinary person like many of Jesus’ other followers. He was a Pharisee—a respected religious teacher, an expert in Scripture, and a member of the Jewish ruling council. In other words, Nicodemus was the kind of man people looked up to for answers.

And yet, when we read of him coming to Jesus in John 3, he came at night. It is possible he didn’t want his colleagues to see him. Maybe he was afraid of what others would think. Or he simply wanted a private conversation with the teacher who was performing all of the miracles he was hearing about. Whatever the reason, John makes it clear that Nicodemus came to Jesus “in the dark.”

When he opened the conversation, Nicodemus sounded respectful: “Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God.” But as Jesus often did, He immediately cut to the heart of the matter:  “No one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” Nicodemus was stunned. He thought Jesus meant a physical rebirth, and he couldn’t understand. Jesus was really saying, “You need a spiritual rebirth—from above, by water and the Spirit.”

This was shocking for a man like Nicodemus. His entire life was built on his study of the Scriptures, Jewish traditions of the Rabbis, and his careful obedience to the Law. But Jesus told him plainly:  Eternal life isn’t found in rules or knowledge. It comes only by being born again, born from above, through faith in the Son of God.

To make His point, Jesus reminded Nicodemus of the story in Numbers 21, when God told Moses to lift up a bronze serpent so that the dying Israelites who were snake-bitten could look at it and live. In a similar way, Jesus would be lifted up on the cross, and whoever looked to Him in faith would find eternal life. This is the context of the verse we all know so well: “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life” - John 3:16.

Nicodemus didn’t fully believe that night. But his journey didn’t end there. Later in John 7, he cautiously defended Jesus in front of his peers. And finally, after the crucifixion, Nicodemus brought a very costly gift of burial spices and helped Joseph of Arimathea bury Jesus. That act was public, costly, and courageous. It was Nicodemus’ way of stepping out of the shadows and into the light.

His story reminds us that faith is often a journey. Some of us begin with curiosity, asking our own questions in the dark. Others cautiously defend Jesus but hesitate to commit fully. But in the end, real faith calls us to step boldly into the light, no matter the cost.

Nicodemus challenges us with one big question:  Are we still hiding in the dark, or are we ready to step into the light of Christ and be born from above?