Daily Devotion for May 3, 2025

Devotion:

For an audio version of this devotion, click here.

Read Matthew 22:34-40.

Tomorrow in the message, I will be focusing on “the basics” of what it means to be the people of Christ. This response from Jesus is for me “the most basic of the basics.” Jesus says that all of the teaching of what we call the Old Testament is summed up by loving God and loving people. That follows a theme that I see in several places in the Bible. The Ten Commandments focus on both our relationship with God and with people. The prophets of the Old Testament days regularly emphasized that we could not have a good relationship with God if we were not doing right in our relationships with people. “The Lord’s Prayer” connects the two relationships when we are invited to pray that we will be forgiven in the same way that we forgive others. A story Jesus told in Matthew 25 says the things we do for people in need are equated with us doing them for Jesus himself.

So stay in love with God. And the more you love God (and live in God’s love for you), the more you will learn to love people. And when you love God and people, you’ve got the basics.

Personal Worship Option:

Pray this prayer or one in your own words: Lord, thank you so much for your love. Be assured that I love you and seek to live my life to show you, my love. Guide me to love other people, both individuals and groups, as you love them. In Jesus’ name, Amen.