Barry Bonds broke Hank Aaron’s world record for home runs and Barry continues to add more home runs to the record.  Regardless of what you think of Barry, he now stands as the greatest home run hitter in history! 

            We like the things in life that are great, don’t we?  We like a great place to live, we enjoy great food, and we long for having a great family.  Do we need anything more than this in life?  We believe we do.  We need a great relationship with God. 

           Now, a great relationship with God is more than being aware that He is around somewhere.  Bette Midler recorded a song in 1990 about world peace which contain the words, “God is watching us, God is watching us, God is watching us, from a distance.”  The melody is sweet and the words are sung so warmly, but the message for me has no hope because I want God to be present, involved, engaged, connected!  Anything but distant!

           Matthew records a time when the Pharisees were testing Jesus.  A lawyer asked a question, and perhaps there was a longing in his heart when he asked, “Teacher which is the greatest commandment?”  .

Matt 22:36-39
36 "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?"
37 Jesus said to him, "'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' 
38 This is the first and great commandment. 
39 And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' 

           Think about that question:  What is the greatest commandment?  May I rephrase that to What do I need to do to have a great relationship with God?  Where I can I invest my time into things which God considers great?  Perhaps we could even say How can I have a great life?  

            As Jesus responded, He didn’t remind us of our duties and obligations, but He touched the deepest longing of our soul … our desire for love and relationship.  “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, soul, and mind.  And you shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

            Stop a moment and reflect with me about the meaning of love.  This is what is called Agape love … a God kind of love.  There are several aspects of this love which is reflected in the Greek word agape.  

            1.  Great love is intensely active in its expression!  The one consumed with agape love will act in every possible way to express his love.  He will swim the widest ocean and climb the highest hill!  No sacrifice is too great in the expression of his love!  This is a love that is up close and personal!  This is not loving God at a distance! 

             2.  Great love is completely at rest and intensely satisfied.  This looks to be a contradiction of the first aspect of love, but instead it is a complement of love.  Intensely active and intensely satisfied!  There is a contentment and security in loving with great love!

             3.  Great love eagerly embraces and vigorously holds on.  This is not a desperate clutching of something he fears will slip away, but a strong relationship to the one who is responding to his love.  This is bold confidence in love.

             4.  Great love has a fixed admiration and contemplation of one he loves.  There is a consistency in his unchanging love that abides forever in the heart.  This is consistent love.

             As we look at the question of How can I have a great life?  The answer is provided in the words of Jesus as He tells us to Have a great love for God!

             A great love is one which touches all the parts and pieces of our life.  When our heart, soul, mind, and strength become involved in loving we are made complete!  Remember, loving God is not a one way street.  He always responds back with more than you give!  If you even attempt to love Him with your heart, soul, mind, and strength, Jesus will then fill you up with an intensely active and satisfying love as He eagerly embraces you and gives you His fixed admiration!

            You have nothing to lose!  He already loves you!  God isn’t asking you to love Him as a cold, sterile, distant, entity of power and authority.  He is so much more than that!  He is the One who said that if we would give that it would be given unto us, pressed down, shaken together, and running over!  The same principle holds true when you love God!  He will demonstrate His love back to you in a measure more than what you can contain!  Love and His love is given back to us, pressed down, shaken together, and running over!  You have nothing to lose!  Great love!

             I have witnessed numbers of Christians who seem to be trying to get God’s attention.  They want to experience His presence and to receive His love in their lives.  Listen!  This is the key!  Love Him in your heart, soul, mind, and strength and He will manifest Himself back to you in your heart, soul, mind, and strength!  He will satisfy your longing!  He will prove Himself consistent in love!  He will actively love you and give you a place of deep rest and peace in your heart, soul, and mind!  Love Him and He will demonstrate His love to you!

           What I am trying to say is that you will always get back more than what you give.  There is a saying which says, “You can’t out give God.”  Those who quote this are often referring to giving money, but I want you to know it applies greatest to loving God!  The more you love Him the more you will experience His love.  Love as an act of faith!  Worship with all your heart!  Enter His holy place with confidence!  Open all the closets of heart, soul, and mind and fill those places with a commitment to love God, and in all those place you will be satisfied with the fullness of God’s presence!

            But Jesus didn’t stop there.  He completed the Great Love story by adding these words:  39 And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 

             The second step into Great Living is to love your neighbor as yourself.

            We have a little bit more difficulty with this part of great living than the first, but it is just as important.  It’s important for the same reason that the first commandment was important!  If you love God you will get more love back than what you give!  And if you love your neighbor you will also get back more than what you give.

            The first question asked after that statement was, “Who then is my neighbor?”  Can I answer that your neighbor is the one God leads you to pray for?  Not the family member and not the friend … but the one God leads you to in prayer.  Find someone outside your circle.  This requires an openness on your part to continually ask the question, “Is this the one, Lord?”

            I know.  The neighbor isn’t like God.  He doesn’t act like God and he doesn’t give love back to you like God gives love back to you.  He may be cantankerous.  He may not appreciate your love.  He may not love you in return!   But the neighbor isn’t the one who is required to give back!  God has committed himself to give back when you give to your neighbor! 

         The intensity of love in your heart, soul, and mind is completed and continued when you are willing to become involved ministering to your neighbors need.  He may have a spiritual need for salvation, or it may be a physical need of helps, or it may be that he is hungry or thirsty.  God gives us the ability to meet his need.

         In the Bible, when Jesus was asked the question of “who then is my neighbor?”  His response included only one person, a Jewish man who was traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho, and was robbed, beaten, and left to die.  One man.  One need.  One gift of love.                
         When we love that one person we are filled up with God’s love in our hearts.  This is when life begins to be great. 

         Have you ever asked the question about have a Great Life?  Have you wondered when the Great Life is supposed to begin?  Have you had a Great Life and lost the glow of it?  Are you ready to live the Great Life?  Then love God, and love one person outside your circle.  God will shower His love on you!