In the 22nd chapter of the Gospel according to St. Matthew, we read of how a scribe approached Jesus and tried to put him to the test, tried to catch him out, asking him which is the greatest of the commandments. In the writings of Fr. Seraphim Rose, we find a warning that, in the end times, knowing every Church canon, being able to recite high level theological concepts, will not be enough to save us from the deception of the Antichrist. Fr. Seraphim Rose teaches us that it is not enough to have a faith that is simply of the head, but that it must move to the heart. Only the heart that is purified and capable of love, receiving God’s love and loving God and loving others—only those hearts will be able to discern the Antichrist, discern evil from truth, evil from goodness, in the end times.

And Jesus, too, when he responds to the scribe there in the 22nd chapter of the Gospel of St. Matthew, he responds by telling him that the greatest commandment is that we love God with all our heart, our soul, and mind; and the second is like it, that we love our neighbor as our self. The commandment of love flows from the very nature of God. When we love, we participate in something divine, because God is love, and therefore we are commanded to, we must love. And when we love, we begin to imitate God.

To love is to begin to be transformed, transformed by the love of God and the presence of God, the purifying presence of God. It is the healing of the divine image within us that we have defiled, not just by failing to love but often by refusing to love. And the refusal to love defiles the soul, defiles the image of God within us. So Jesus teaches first—first we must love God. We must love God before everything else. The love of God must be our priority in all things.

This is not a theoretical or an impersonal love. Christ doesn’t call us to love in some kind of theoretical way, but in faith we are truly to love God who draws close to us, who knows us intimately and deeply. We see in Jesus’ response really such simplicity. What could be more simple than the command that we must love—love God and love neighbor? But Jesus goes on to explain that we must love God, yes, with our heart, our soul, and with our mind. We are to love God completely, utterly, holding nothing back. It means loving God with everything that we are, every part of ourselves. There is to be no small corner of our lives that we keep back and say, “This is for me.” We are to lay everything before God.

It means repenting of everything that prevents us from loving—loving God and loving neighbor—and everything that prevents us from allowing God’s love into our lives. It means repenting of everything that prevents us from experiencing God’s love and from loving.

By heart, soul, and mind, Jesus tells us that our whole life must be directed towards God. Everything about us, everything, must be directed towards God, that we are willing to sacrifice everything to be near to him, to serve him. And it means, of course, directing our minds, our culture, our science, everything that we create, everything that we think must be to honor God. Everything that detracts from God is to be rejected from our lives. This is a hard calling, to reject everything that detracts from the love of God.

Jesus then links love of God with love of neighbor. The second greatest commandment: love our neighbor as our selves. Now, of course, Jesus in the parable of the good Samaritan had taught that our neighbor is everybody. We are to think beyond tribe, family, those that we prefer or like, some link that we have with people. There is not to be a special group or individual that we are permitted not to try and love. I’m sure every one of us, if we searched deeply and honestly, we could find groups or individuals that it is difficult to love—but Christ calls us to love everybody.

Jesus then goes on to say that to love is the fulfillment of the Law. And the Law, and all that was taught by the prophets, finds its fulfillment in love. The scholar, the scribe who came to Jesus, was looking to catch him out, but he was looking also for a legalistic idea about laws and rules. But Jesus shows that spiritual growth must always be judged by the degree to which we have loved God and loved neighbor. Every action, every thought, every word, must be subjected to this holy, heavenly standard of love.

We must ask ourselves, always, every day, “Am I acting out of love? Do my motives, my desires, conform to love? Am I seeking to serve God and care for my neighbor, or am I motivated by ego, by selfishness, by fear, by greed?”—any of those demonic urges that we allow to grow within us will motivate thoughts, actions, and words that deny love. So let us put away the false, the empty pride of our learning and our correctness, or our judgment of others, for failing to reach what we imagine are our high standards, our sense of being right—any of these things.

And let us always judge ourselves by the standard of love. And let us know, let us remember that it is by this measure, the measure of love, that God will judge each of us.