Love God. Love others.
In just four words, this mantra sums up what Jesus declared are the two greatest commandments (Mark 12:28-31).
And I’m convinced that to fulfill this mantra, we must evangelize. Why? Let me explain.
LOVE GOD
You don’t really “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” (Mark 12:30) if you don’t love Him enough to proclaim His Good News to those around you.
If we truly love Jesus, we’ll keep His commandments (John 14:15), which include His last and lasting command to “go and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19).
LOVE OTHERS
If we truly love others, we’ll share the Gospel with them.
Years ago, magician and self-proclaimed atheist Penn Jillette was approached by a “Gideon” after one of his shows. The kind and polite man struck up a conversation with Penn and then gave him a Gideon Bible.
Penn was moved by the man’s kind gesture and made it clear that, although he’s an atheist, he doesn’t respect people who refuse to proselytize. He then shared these powerful words in a video post:
“If you believe there is a Heaven and Hell, and you think it’s not worth telling someone about it,” how much do you have to hate him to not proselytize? To believe that everlasting life is possible and not tell people? This man cared enough about me to proselytize.” Penn Jillette
If we truly love our neighbors—our friends, family, co-workers, classmates, and of course, our actual neighbors—we’ll do our best to keep them from going to Hell. In other words, we’ll pray for them, care for them, and share the Gospel with them.
Love God. Love others.
And share the Gospel as you do!
This article originally appeared on gregstier.org and is reposted here by permission.