2026 Reading Plan Reflections - Day 35

Today’s reading brings us to one of the most familiar—and quietly difficult—questions Jesus is ever asked:
“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

Jesus’ answer sounds simple enough: love God with everything you are, and love your neighbor as yourself. But as the conversation around this passage showed, simplicity doesn’t mean ease.

One honest reflection named something many believers have felt but few say out loud:
How am I supposed to love God more than my spouse, my children, or the people I can see, touch, and hold?

That’s not a foolish question. It’s a deeply human one.

The Limits of the English Word “Love”
Part of the struggle is linguistic. English uses one word—love—to carry far more weight than it can reasonably hold. Scripture doesn’t.

The Bible speaks of love in layers and textures:

• Agape — self-giving, covenantal, faithful love
• Philia — friendship and affection
• Eros — romantic, embodied love
• Familial love — kinship and shared life

When Jesus says, “Love the Lord your God,” He’s not asking for romantic affection, emotional intensity, or competition with family bonds. He’s calling for ultimate allegiance, not emotional replacement.

Loving God with all that we are means God becomes the orienting center of our loves—the one who shapes, orders, and purifies every other affection.

Obedience, Yes—but Not Only Obedience
One conclusion that often gets drawn is that loving God is only obedience—no emotion required. Obedience absolutely matters. Jesus makes that clear. But obedience alone doesn’t tell the whole story.

Love for God can include emotion. It often grows into affection. But it doesn’t start there—and it doesn’t depend on it.

We learn to love God through prayer, Scripture, obedience, repentance, and surrender. Over time, those practices shape us. And as one reflection noted, when our love for God deepens, it doesn’t shrink our love for our spouse or family—it strengthens it.

Loving God First Doesn’t Mean Loving Others Less
This may be the most important clarification.
Jesus is not asking us to diminish our love for the people closest to us. He’s telling us where love has to begin if it’s going to be healthy and whole.

When God is first:

• Love becomes less possessive
• Sacrifice becomes less transactional
• Forgiveness becomes possible
• Service becomes sincere

The Holy Spirit teaches us to love others not merely with instinct or emotion, but with God’s own patient, servant-hearted, self-giving love. No one is denied love because we love God first. In fact, they finally receive the kind of love they were always meant to have.

Jesus’ Question Beneath the Question
As Matthew closes this chapter, Jesus turns the tables and asks a question of His own: “Whose son is the Messiah?”

The deeper issue underneath every debate in this chapter—about resurrection, commandments, authority, and allegiance—is this: Who is Jesus to you?

If Jesus is merely a teacher, then loving God feels abstract and distant. If Jesus is Lord, then loving God becomes concrete, embodied, and practiced—right where we live.

Where do you locate the source of your love?
Is it emotion alone? Habit? Loyalty?
Or is it rooted in a surrendered life centered on God?