"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.'.....'Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:30-32 NIV
At the close of 2010, a young and successful businessman friend of mine asked, "Steven, tell me the three most important lessons that you have learned in your life so that I may also learn?"
I paused and gave a hard thought before affirmatively replying, "Loving God, loving my wife and loving myself."
The reason is simple and direct. It is God's command. When asked which is the most important commandment of all, Jesus clearly said that it is to love God, and to love my neighbors as myself (Mark 12:30-32).
The first commandment is clear. So is my first lesson learnt.
What about my second and third lessons; loving my wife and loving myself.
My wife is with me most of the time. She lies in bed next to me almost every night since we were married. So I must love her. I want to love her because she is God's chosen soul mate and lover for me. She is my closest neighbor. Therefore, to love my wife helps me fulfill the second commandment.
On New Year's day, we celebrated our 29th wedding anniversary. We courted for 7 years before we tied the knot. We knew each other casually for 2 years before we courted. That makes 38 years of being with each other. By God's amazing grace, we are still very much in love with one another (Proverbs 5:17-19). That is my second lesson for success in life - to love my wife!
I love myself (Ephesians 5:29). If I don't, how can I love my neighbor as myself? I learnt that loving oneself is not the same as being self-centred. To love myself is to keep my mind, spirit and body healthy for my wife, my children, "my neighbors" and my God. Only if I am healthy, then can I fulfill God's plan in my life.
I want to start 2011 reminding myself to continue in these three most important decisions in life; to keep on loving God, my wife and myself.
God bless.
Steven
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