**Daily Devotional** **June 20** *37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. - Matt 22:37-40 (KJV)* What an awesome fact, that Jesus was able to put the whole purpose of the Law into two commands of love. This first commandment is a quote from Old Testament Scripture (Deuteronomy 6:5), and illustrates that these commands were in the Old Testament, but were not understood fully. Jesus was always quoting Scripture, as it could not be improved upon, but He gave a different importance to it. We must keep in mind that loving God is first and foremost of everything we do. The second great commandment of loving thy neighbor as yourself was from the Old Testament Scriptures also (Leviticus 19:18). What a confirmation of the accuracy of Scripture that this is, that Jesus used it to give new meaning to the commandments of God. Jesus could have said anything and it would have been Scripture, but He used what had already been said through the Old Prophets instead – Wow. What an illustration that God is love (1 John 4:8), to be able to take the whole law, given through Moses, and put into two commandments of love. The fact that God is love is something that many Christians don’t understand. They take the wrath shown in the Old Testament and think that is how God is, not realizing that we are under a New Covenant, and it is now based on the true nature of God – which is love. Praise God for changing the law of us doing, to the law of us loving. Fill your heart with God, and you will be full of love. Devotional by Pastor Joe W. Green, www.infinite-faith.com