The Greatest Commandments: Love God and Love Others
What Is the "Love God and Love Others" Verse? Quick Facts & Overview
If you're looking for the love god and love others verse, here's what you need to know right away:
Main Verse:
Matthew 22:37-39 (also found in Mark 12:30-31 and Luke 10:27)The Command:
Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.
Love your neighbor as yourself.
Why It Matters:
Jesus called these the "greatest commandments."
"All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commands." (Matthew 22:40)Old Testament Roots:
Deuteronomy 6:5 (Love God)
Leviticus 19:18 (Love neighbor)
Loving God and loving others aren't just good advice—they are the heartbeat of Jesus' teaching. These two commands summarize the entire message of the Bible and offer practical steps for living out your faith every day.
Research shows that the phrase "love your neighbor as yourself" appears in the Bible 8 times, and the command itself is among the top 10 most-searched passages each year. This isn't just theology—it's a guide to better relationships, stronger communities, and improved mental and spiritual health.
If you struggle with anxiety, trauma, or just feel stuck in your spiritual walk, understanding and applying these verses can be life-changing. In this guide, we'll break down what these verses mean, why Jesus emphasized them, and how you can live them out—even when life is hard. You'll also find how faith-based coaching and community support can help you put love into action and find healing for your mind and soul.
When Jesus spoke about loving God with everything we are, He wasn't introducing a new concept—He was reminding us of what matters most. This first part of the love god and love others verse calls us to a relationship that transforms every dimension of our lives.
What does it really mean to love God completely? It's beautifully multifaceted:
Loving God with your heart means He captures your deepest affections and desires. It's that feeling when worship music brings tears to your eyes, or when gratitude overwhelms you during a sunset. As the psalmist expressed, "Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you" (Psalm 73:25).
Your soul—that innermost part of who you are—finds its true home in God's presence. This soul-love isn't about religious activities but about a genuine connection where your identity becomes rooted in being God's beloved child.
Your mind participates in this love too. Far from checking your brain at the door, faith invites your curiosity, questions, and intellectual engagement. When you study Scripture, ponder God's character, or work through difficult questions, you're loving God with your mind.
And with all your strength? That's where love becomes visible—using your energy, resources, and abilities to honor God. Maybe it's serving at church, being generous with your money, or simply doing your daily work with excellence.
The beauty of this command from Deuteronomy 6:5 (which observant Jews recited twice daily in the Shema prayer) is how it addresses our whole being. God doesn't want just your Sunday mornings or just your charitable giving—He desires all of you, because love is never compartmentalized.
Practical Ways to Love God Daily
Loving God isn't an abstract concept—it takes shape in everyday moments. Here's how this love might look in your daily life:
Start your morning by prioritizing conversation with God. This doesn't need to be formal or lengthy—just authentic. Share your concerns, express gratitude, and then pause to listen. Many people find that journaling these conversations helps them stay focused.
Make Scripture a living part of your day. Rather than rushing through Bible reading like a task, try engaging with smaller portions deeply. Ask questions like, "What does this reveal about God's character?" or "How might this change how I approach my day?" Check out these Bible Passages About Love for inspiration.
Practice gratitude intentionally. When anxiety or negative thoughts creep in, counter them by naming specific blessings. This isn't about forcing positivity—it's about training yourself to notice God's faithfulness even in difficult seasons.
Worship beyond Sunday by finding sacred moments in ordinary days—while driving, washing dishes, or waiting in line. A simple "Thank you, God" or humming a worship song can transform routine moments into opportunities for connection.
When you follow God's guidance, do so from a place of love rather than obligation. There's a world of difference between "I have to" and "I get to" when it comes to obedience.
When mental health challenges make these practices feel impossible, please know this truth: God understands your struggles. The pressure to "perform" spiritually can actually create more distance from God when we're struggling. Sometimes, loving God simply means bringing your honest pain, doubts, and exhaustion to Him without pretense.
At Share The Struggle, we've seen how mental health challenges can complicate our spiritual lives. Our coaches are trained to help you develop personalized ways to connect with God that honor both your faith and your mental health journey. Rather than generic spiritual practices that might feel overwhelming, we work with you to find sustainable rhythms that foster authentic connection with God—even on your hardest days.
God's love for you isn't based on your spiritual performance. The invitation to love Him with all your heart, soul, mind and strength isn't a burden—it's a pathway to the relationship you were created for.
2. Love Your Neighbor as Yourself
The second greatest commandment—"Love your neighbor as yourself"—stands shoulder to shoulder with loving God. It's not an afterthought or a lesser priority. When Jesus paired these commands, He revealed something profound: our relationship with God and our relationships with others are inseparably linked.
But who counts as our "neighbor" exactly? When a clever legal expert tried to narrow this definition in Luke 10, Jesus responded with the Parable of the Good Samaritan—a story that blew apart cultural expectations. Your neighbor isn't just the person who lives next door or attends your church. Your neighbor is the stranger on the side of the road, the person who looks nothing like you, the individual whose beliefs differ from yours. In short, your neighbor is anyone whose path crosses yours.
This command first appears in Leviticus 19:18, tucked within instructions for how Israelites should treat their fellow countrymen. But Jesus took this command and expanded its horizons while preserving its heart: treat others with the same care, consideration, and compassion you naturally extend to yourself.
There's something important hiding in plain sight here—this command assumes healthy self-love. Not the self-obsessed kind our culture often promotes, but a grounded understanding of your worth as someone created in God's image. When we're drowning in self-hatred, shame, or distorted self-perception, our capacity to love others becomes compromised. This is precisely where mental health and spiritual growth intersect.
Biblical scholars note that the phrase "love your neighbor" appears in over 30 different Bible passages throughout Scripture, underscoring how central this principle is to God's vision for humanity.
Everyday Practices for Neighbor-Love
Loving your neighbor isn't a lofty ideal—it takes shape in ordinary moments and daily choices:
Listen with your full self. Put down your phone, make eye contact, and truly hear what others are saying without mentally preparing your response. When someone feels truly heard, they feel valued.
Open your home and heart. Share meals, create welcoming spaces, and especially reach out to those who differ from you. True hospitality says, "You matter here."
Meet needs without fanfare. Notice the single parent struggling with groceries, the elderly neighbor whose lawn needs mowing, the coworker having a rough day. Small acts of service speak volumes.
Speak life into others. Our words can heal or wound. Choose to encourage specifically and sincerely, pointing out the good you see in others.
Stand up for the vulnerable. Love sometimes means speaking uncomfortable truths when you witness injustice or mistreatment. As Proverbs 31:8-9 reminds us, we must "speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves."
Choose forgiveness. Perhaps nothing demonstrates love more powerfully than releasing resentment and extending grace, especially when it's difficult.
Real-life examples of neighbor-love surround us. Consider the volunteer who serves a thousand meals daily to migrants at a border crossing—strangers she'll likely never see again but recognizes as neighbors in need. Or the 10-year-old in Zambia who carried her younger sister to literacy camp each day, demonstrating that love often looks like sacrifice in ordinary clothing.
These expressions of love echo Jesus' teaching that "whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me" (Matthew 25:40). The beautiful paradox? When we love our neighbors well, we're simultaneously loving God.
For many of us, loving others doesn't come naturally, especially when we're struggling with our own emotional health. At Share The Struggle, our coaches can help you identify the barriers that make neighbor-love difficult—whether they're past wounds, anxiety, or unhealthy thought patterns—and develop practical strategies for growing in this essential command. When we take our thoughts captive and align them with Christ's perspective, we find new capacity to see and love others as God intended.
3. How Jesus Modeled Loving God and Others
Jesus didn't just talk about the love God and love others verse—He lived it out in every moment of His life. His example gives us the perfect blueprint for how these commandments look when fully embodied.
When it came to loving God, Jesus showed us what wholehearted devotion really means. He would slip away from the crowds to spend time in prayer, sometimes praying through the entire night under the stars (Luke 6:12). His conversations often naturally wove in Scripture quotes, revealing how deeply God's Word lived in His heart. I'm always touched by how Jesus described His relationship with the Father: "My food is to do the will of him who sent me" (John 4:34). For Jesus, obeying God wasn't a burden—it was as essential and natural as eating.
Even in His darkest hour in Gethsemane, when His humanity recoiled from the suffering ahead, Jesus demonstrated perfect trust: "Not my will, but yours be done." His love for the Father transcended even His desire to avoid pain.
Jesus' love for others was equally remarkable. He didn't just feel compassion when He saw suffering—He reached out His hand and healed. He didn't just talk about inclusion—He sat down to eat with those society rejected, scandalizing the religious elite. And in one of the most powerful demonstrations of servant leadership, Jesus—the Creator of the universe—knelt down and washed His disciples' dusty, dirty feet.
Remember the Parable of the Good Samaritan? This story perfectly captures Jesus' radical view of neighbor-love. When religious leaders stepped around a beaten man to avoid ritual impurity, it was a despised Samaritan who stopped, bandaged wounds, arranged shelter, and promised ongoing care. Through this parable, Jesus taught us that love isn't defined by convenience or comfort—it's defined by action, even when it costs us something.
Perhaps nothing illustrates Jesus' teaching on love more powerfully than the foot-washing scene in John 13. In a culture where foot-washing was reserved for the lowest servant, Jesus took up the towel and basin Himself. When He finished, He told His followers: "I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you." True love serves without concern for status or recognition.
Of course, Jesus' ultimate demonstration of love was His willing sacrifice on the cross. As 1 John 3:16 reminds us: "This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters." Jesus didn't just teach the greatest commandments—He fulfilled them perfectly, showing us that love is sacrificial at its core.
For those of us who struggle with anxiety, depression, or trauma, Jesus' example offers beautiful hope. He shows us that loving God includes bringing our honest emotions to Him. And His compassionate interactions reveal that loving others doesn't require perfection—just presence and willingness to help where we can.
At Share The Struggle, our coaches help clients explore Jesus' model of love and apply it to their specific circumstances. When mental health challenges make loving God and others feel impossible, having someone walk alongside you can make all the difference. Our Showing God's Love to Others resource offers additional practical guidance for following Jesus' example in everyday relationships.
4. Why Loving God First Fuels Better Love for Others
Have you ever tried to pour from an empty cup? That's essentially what happens when we try to love others without first being filled with God's love. The love god and love others verse reveals a beautiful sequence—not just two random commands lumped together, but a divine order that transforms how we relate to everyone around us.
"We love because he first loved us" (1 John 4:19). This simple verse open ups the secret to sustainable love. God isn't just commanding us to love—He's the very source of love itself. When we prioritize our relationship with Him, we position ourselves under the waterfall of His love, which naturally overflows to the people in our lives.
Think of your heart like a fountain. Without a water source, it quickly runs dry. But when connected to an endless supply, it can refresh others continuously without depleting. This is why Jesus called loving God the "first and greatest commandment"—not just because it's most important, but because it creates the capacity for everything else.
God's love shapes our identity. When we truly understand how much God loves us—flaws and all—we develop a security that frees us from needing constant validation from others. This security helps us love people for who they are, not for what they can give us or how they make us feel.
God's love becomes our template. By experiencing His patience when we mess up, His forgiveness when we fall short, and His faithfulness when we wander, we learn how to extend these same gifts to the difficult people in our lives. We love others better because we've been loved well first.
The Holy Spirit empowers our love. Through connection with God, we receive supernatural capacity to love in ways that exceed our natural abilities—even loving enemies, setting healthy boundaries, and persevering when relationships get messy.
Our motives become purified. Loving God first helps us examine why we're loving others. Are we seeking approval? Avoiding conflict? Or genuinely desiring their good? When God is our primary relationship, other relationships find their proper place.
A Barna Group study found that Christians who prioritize their relationship with God report significantly greater satisfaction in human relationships and bounce back faster from relational disappointments. This perfectly aligns with Jesus' teaching that "apart from me you can do nothing" (John 15:5).
Connected Commandments & Mental Health
At Share The Struggle, we've seen how this love-order transforms mental health. When our clients understand how loving God first affects their emotional wellbeing, breakthroughs happen:
Your sense of worth stabilizes when it's anchored in God's unchanging love rather than others' fluctuating opinions. This creates resilience against rejection and criticism.
Healthy boundaries become possible when you understand that saying "no" sometimes is part of loving well. Loving God first helps distinguish between selfless service and harmful self-neglect.
Emotional regulation improves through spiritual connection. Many clients tell us that their consistent time with God becomes an anchor during emotional storms, helping them respond thoughtfully rather than react impulsively.
Purpose and meaning deepen when your love for others flows from your love for God. This prevents the compassion fatigue that comes from trying to please everyone or fix everything.
Our Captive Thoughts coaching model helps clients identify thought patterns that block their ability to receive God's love and extend it to others. By taking these thoughts captive (2 Corinthians 10:5), clients experience freedom to love from abundance rather than scarcity.
As one client shared with us: "I used to resent the difficult people in my family. I was exhausted trying to love them. Through coaching, I realized I was trying to love from an empty tank. When I focused on receiving God's love first, everything changed. I found I could love without keeping score or feeling drained."
This approach doesn't minimize the command to love others—it maximizes it. When we love God first, we don't love others less; we love them better, longer, and more authentically.
If you're struggling to love the challenging people in your life, consider whether you're trying to love from your own limited resources. Through our coaching programs at Share The Struggle, you can learn practical ways to receive God's love more fully so it can flow more freely to others. Because when it comes to loving well, the order really does matter.
5. Overcoming Common Challenges & Growing in Love
Let's be honest – living out the love god and love others verse sounds beautiful in theory but can be messy in practice. Even with our hearts in the right place, real-life obstacles often trip us up. The good news? Recognizing these challenges is half the battle.
When it comes to loving God wholeheartedly, many of us struggle with the same roadblocks. Our calendars overflow with commitments, leaving little quality time for our relationship with God. Sometimes intellectual doubts creep in, making us question God's goodness or even His existence. Past trauma or disappointment might make trusting God feel risky. Many of us carry distorted views of God's character, seeing Him primarily as a stern judge rather than a loving father. And of course, our own mistakes and the shame they bring can make us feel unworthy of approaching God at all.
Our relationships with others come with their own set of challenges. Past hurts leave us guarded, afraid to love freely again. In our polarized world, differences in politics, beliefs, or values can create seemingly impossible barriers. Our natural self-centeredness constantly pulls our focus back to our own needs and perspectives. Fear of rejection makes vulnerability terrifying. And for those regularly caring for others with significant needs, compassion fatigue can leave us emotionally drained and unable to love well.
"I knew I should love difficult people in my life," one coaching client shared, "but every interaction left me feeling depleted and resentful. I needed to learn how to love without losing myself in the process."
Growing in love isn't an overnight change but a lifelong journey of small steps forward (and sometimes backward). Rather than aiming for perfection, focus on progress through consistent practices:
Start with manageable moments of connection with God daily instead of occasional spiritual marathons. Five minutes of focused prayer often bears more fruit than an hour of distracted devotion.
Practice forgiveness as a decision, not just a feeling. When someone hurts you, acknowledge the pain, but choose to release the right to get even. This frees you to love again.
Step beyond your comfort zone by intentionally connecting with people different from you. Begin with genuine curiosity about their experiences and perspectives.
Pay attention to your triggers – those situations or interactions that consistently make loving responses difficult. Bringing these to God in prayer can lead to healing and growth.
Study Jesus' example in the Gospels. Notice how He interacted with various people and challenged yourself to respond similarly in your relationships.
Invite accountability from trusted friends who know your growth goals and will speak truth with kindness when needed.
Build rhythms of rest into your life to prevent burnout and sustain your capacity to love. You can't pour from an empty cup.
Coaching & Community Support
The journey of growing in love wasn't designed to be a solo expedition. At Share The Struggle, we've witnessed how community and professional support make all the difference, especially when mental health challenges complicate the path.
Our Captive Thoughts coaching model directly addresses how your thought patterns affect your ability to both receive and give love. Many of us carry deeply ingrained beliefs that create invisible barriers. For instance, if you believe "I have to earn God's love through perfect behavior," you'll likely extend that same conditional approach to others. A coach can help you identify and replace these limiting beliefs with God's truth, removing obstacles to authentic love.
"I was stuck in a cycle of critical judgment toward people who had hurt me," explains a recent coaching client. "Working with my coach helped me see how my thoughts about God's expectations were actually fueling my inability to forgive. Now I'm experiencing freedom to love in ways I never thought possible."
We offer several coaching options to support your growth:
Weekly group sessions bring together up to 8 people for just $40/month, creating a supportive community where you can learn from others on similar journeys.
Individual coaching starts at $180/month for weekly 25-minute sessions, providing personalized guidance custom to your specific challenges.
Couples coaching at $400/month helps partners grow together in loving God and each other more effectively.
Beyond professional coaching, consider these community supports that can nurture your growth:
Prayer partnerships create sacred space for spiritual connection and accountability. Find someone who will pray with and for you regularly.
Accountability relationships help you stay focused on specific growth goals. Share your intentions with someone who will check in on your progress with kindness.
Service groups provide opportunities to put love into action alongside others, creating momentum through shared purpose.
Study circles allow you to explore Scripture's teachings on love in community, gaining insights from different perspectives.
The command to love God and others isn't a standard by which to measure your failure—it's an invitation to a more fulfilling way of life. Each small step toward loving better brings you closer to the person God created you to be.
Frequently Asked Questions about the Love God and Love Others Verse
Why did Jesus call these the greatest commandments?
When Jesus identified loving God and loving others as the greatest commandments, He wasn't creating a spiritual ranking system—He was revealing the beating heart of all Scripture.
"All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments," Jesus explained in Matthew 22:40. It's a powerful image: every other command in the Bible is suspended from, supported by, and finds its meaning in these two principles of love.
Think about it like this—God never intended His law to be a checklist of do's and don'ts. Instead, it's a roadmap to relationship. Every command either guides us toward right relationship with God or right relationship with people. The command not to worship idols protects our relationship with God, while the command not to bear false witness protects our relationships with others.
When we truly love God with our whole hearts and love others as ourselves, we naturally fulfill what all those other commands were pointing to all along. Jesus wasn't dismissing the rest of Scripture—He was giving us the key to understanding and living it.
What if I struggle to love myself—where do I start?
"Love your neighbor as yourself" can feel impossible when you don't actually like the person in the mirror. If you struggle with self-hatred, shame, or a distorted self-image, loving others well becomes extremely difficult too.
The journey toward healthy self-love begins with seeing yourself through God's eyes, not your own critical lens. Your worth isn't based on your performance, others' opinions, or even how you feel about yourself on any given day. Instead, ground your identity in what God says about you—that you are created in His image, deeply loved, and worth the sacrifice of Jesus made on the cross.
Start practicing self-compassion by speaking to yourself with the same kindness you'd offer a dear friend who's struggling. Notice when that inner critic starts up, and gently counter those thoughts with truth. Acknowledging mistakes and areas for growth doesn't mean condemning yourself as a person.
Many negative self-perceptions stem from hurtful messages we've internalized from others throughout our lives. This is where working with a faith-based coach can be particularly transformative—they can help you identify these wounds and find healing through God's truth.
Healthy self-love isn't selfish—it's good stewardship of the life God has given you. As you grow in accepting God's unconditional love for you, you'll naturally develop greater capacity to extend that same love to others.
How can families practice these commandments together?
The family dinner table, the living room couch, the car ride to school—these everyday moments offer powerful opportunities to practice loving God and loving others together. Families don't need elaborate plans to build these commandments into their DNA.
Create simple worship rhythms that work for your family's age range and schedule. Even 10-15 minutes a few times a week reading Scripture, praying together, or singing worship songs can establish a foundation of loving God as a family unit. One family I know started with just reading one psalm and sharing one thing they're thankful for before dinner.
Serve together as a family, finding age-appropriate ways everyone can participate. Whether it's helping elderly neighbors with yard work, volunteering at a food bank, or supporting a missionary family through care packages, these shared experiences teach children that love is active, not just a feeling.
Family conflicts provide perfect (if uncomfortable) opportunities to practice forgiveness. When parents model both seeking and extending forgiveness, they reinforce that love perseveres through hurts and disappointments.
Create a culture of appreciation by regularly expressing what you value about each family member. Some families use dinnertime to share "appreciations" or keep a family gratitude journal where everyone contributes.
Pray for others together, keeping a family prayer list that includes friends, neighbors, and even those who've hurt you. This teaches children that loving others includes wanting God's best for them.
When watching shows or discussing situations in the news, ask questions like, "How could someone show love to God and others in this scenario?" These conversations develop critical thinking about applying these commandments in real life.
The goal isn't perfection but direction—moving together toward greater love for God and others, even when you stumble along the way. At Share The Struggle, our family coaching helps parents steer these practices while addressing the mental and emotional health needs that sometimes make loving well more challenging. Through our coaching services starting at $180/month for individuals or $400/month for couples, families can receive personalized guidance on building a home where love for God and others flourishes.
Conclusion
The love god and love others verse truly represents the beating heart of Christian faith. When Jesus identified these two commands as the greatest, He wasn't just giving us religious instruction—He was offering us a pathway to the life we were created for.
Think about it: loving God with everything we are and loving our neighbors as ourselves isn't just about checking boxes on a spiritual to-do list. It's about embracing our deepest purpose. These commands aren't burdens weighing us down but invitations lifting us up to a more fulfilling way of living.
Of course, the journey isn't always smooth. When anxiety creeps in, when past hurts resurface, when cultural differences create tension—that's when loving God and others becomes most challenging. And that's precisely when community and support become most valuable.
At Share The Struggle, we've seen how loving God and loving others isn't just the goal of healing—it's often the path that gets us there. Many of us try to heal in isolation, but genuine change happens in the context of loving relationships.
Our Captive Thoughts coaching model specifically addresses the thought patterns that create barriers between us and God, between us and others, even between us and ourselves. By identifying these thoughts and bringing them into alignment with God's truth, you can experience remarkable change in all your relationships.
Whether you're feeling stuck in your spiritual journey or struggling with specific mental health challenges, coaching provides a supportive space to grow. Our weekly group sessions provide community support at just $40/month, while individual coaching starts at $180/month for those wanting more personalized guidance. For couples seeking to grow together in loving God and each other, our couples coaching at $400/month offers specialized support.
Love is a journey with both progress and setbacks. Some days you'll feel like you're getting it right, and other days you'll wonder if you've made any progress at all. That's normal! What matters is the overall direction of your life.
As you continue growing in your capacity to love God and others, you'll likely notice positive changes beyond your spiritual life—improved mental health, deeper relationships, and a more meaningful impact on those around you.
The apostle John reminds us, "Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love" (1 John 4:7-8).
Ready to deepen your journey of loving God and others? Learn more about our coaching services and take a step forward today. You don't have to walk this path alone.
