Biblical Basis for Advocacy: God loves us

God loves us. Jesus’ greatest commandments are that we love God and each other.

The Old Testament and Gospels contain the two greatest commandments. First, we are to love God (“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, and soul…”) and, second, we are to love our neighbors (Deuteronomy 6:4-5; Matthew 22:37-40; Mark 12:31; Luke 6:27-31), who include our enemies and those who hate and persecute us (Matthew 5:44) and anyone who is in need (Luke 10:25-37: the parable of the Good Samaritan).

Our neighbors also include people who live near us and people who live far from us. We love because God first loved us (1 John 4:19), and since God loves us so much, we also ought to love one another (1 John 4:7). We desire “to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge,” so that all “may be filled with all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:19).

Let us pray,

God of Love.

May your love for us
fill our hearts so that we might
share your love with our neighbors
near and far.

Ground our advocacy for
an end to hunger in your
word and your love.

In Jesus’ name we pray,

Amen

This email is part of a series of reflections that come from Bread for the World’s Biblical Basis for Advocacy to End Hunger resource.