RESPECT

Step 6 of the 12-Step Christ Intentional Living Plan

To love God is to respect God and Christ

Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” — Jesus Christ, Savior of the World, Matthew 22:37-39

Being in harmony with your God and Christ, yourself and others is the ultimate self-care and self-love. When you are in harmony with God and Christ, you respect them enough by living according to the commandments they (God and Christ) left in the Bible, starting with the two greatest of all commandments: love God (and Christ) and love others as you love yourself.

1. love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.

To love God is to make the conscious decision to concern yourself with His and Christ’s well-being by doing and owning less of the things that hurt them. If you love someone, you will do everything possible to make them happy. Moreover, love is not about money, blessings or material stuff. So, if you want to be with God and Christ, be with them for who they are and not JUST for what they can give you or do for you. What exactly are we trying to say? The 12-Step Christ Intentional Living Plan will not work for you long-term if you are ONLY after God and Christ for money, blessings or material stuff. No one wants to be with a user, not even God or Christ.

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. — Jesus Christ, Savior of the World, Matthew 6:33

Whatever you need from God (career, family, etc.) God has already given you the tools to achieve your dreams and goals through Christ. As the passage below shows, when Moses cried out to God for help, God told him off because He had already given Moses all the tools he needed to accomplish his goal — to lead the Israelites through the sea.

Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on. Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground. — God, Creator and Ruler of the Universe, Exodus 14:15-16

2. Love your neighbor as yourself.

Who is your neighbor?

Your neighbor is your family, friends, colleagues, that random woman you see at the supermarket every other Saturday or that weird smelly guy who likes to sit in front of your building every evening. Your neighbor is everyone who crosses your path during your day, week, month, year or life. Whoever that person is (no matter their status in life, regardless of race, gender, belief or sexuality), you must love and treat them with the same courtesy you want others to treat you with. To love God is to respect God and Christ by living according to their commandments.