Love Your Neighbor

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. Mark 12:30

The real sense of these words is this: The one perfect Good shall be your one ultimate end. One thing shall you desire for its own sake–the fulfillment of Him who is all in all. One happiness shall you propose to your soul: union with him that made it, having fellowship with the Father and the Son, and joined to the Lord in one spirit. One design you are to pursue to the end of time–the enjoyment of God in time and eternity. Desire other things so far as they tend to this. Love the creature as it leads to the Creator. But in every step you take, let this be the glorious point that terminates your view. Let every affection, thought, word and work be subordinate to this. Whatever you desire or fear, seek or shun, think, speak or do, let it be an order to your happiness in God. The Sole end as well as the Source of your being, have no ultimate end but God. Thus, our Lord says, "one thing is needful" and if your eye be simply fixed on this one thing, your whole body shall be full of light. Thus in Saint Paul: "this one thing I do, I press toward the mark, for the prize of the high calling in Christ Jesus." Thus Saint James, "cleanse your hands … Purify your hearts" thus St. John; "love not the world … For it is not of the father," but the mark of those who will not have him reign over them.

—John Wesley