Two Kinds of Love

"The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.  Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.'  The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'  There is no commandment greater than these."  Mark 12:29-31

Exclusive Love
What does it mean to love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength?  Using the picture of marriage is probably the best way to describe it.  Rightly so, because the church of Christ is called the bride of Christ.  This love is the kind of love that involves passions and desires.  This love waits for and longs for Christ.  This is the love, that more than anything else, wants to be with Him.  There is a burning in the heart and soul that won't go away until its desire is fulfilled.  This love is exclusively for God.  It means rejecting with contempt anyone or anything that tries to compete with Him as number one.  This love makes a person think of Jesus, dominating a person's thoughts day and night.  Imagine a young lady who meets the man of her dreams: Is she kept up at night thinking about him?  This is a lose yourself kind of love; it requires total surrender.  You'll be hanging on every word that comes from the mouth of God.  You'll obey His commands with a desire to please Him.  We all know that God needs nothing from us, yet He asks us to serve Him, and that is so we can demonstrate our love for Him.  This is the love that drives us to worship.  We worship Him, and Him alone, because only God is worthy of our worship.  This is the total love that consumes every bit of strength and desire and thought and affection and expectation.  This is what might be called crazy love.

Brotherly Love
This is the second greatest command: Love your neighbor as yourself.  This is the kind of love that looks out for each other.  We have a common bond, being united in the church of Christ, and all being made in the image of God.  Because of that, we treat each other with respect and care.  We want what is best for the other person, just as we might for ourselves.  We encourage one another.  We strengthen each other.  We warn when there is danger.  We celebrate at victories.  We cry with each other.  This is the kind of love that looks beyond self and looks to the best interests of everyone.  This is brotherly love