A Lesser Love
There is no question that you can choose to love God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. There is also no question that you should choose to love God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. What if you choose to love God with less than all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength, and to love your neighbor less than yourself?
You can and should love as God would have you love. I believe that if you are unwilling to love God and your neighbors as God commands, you can choose to love God with a lesser love, you can choose to love God with as much of your heart, your soul, your mind, and your strength as you are willing to love him with, and you can choose to love your neighbors with a lesser love, you can choose to love your neighbor as much as yourself as you are willing to love them. Perhaps God will forgive you for not having loved as he would have you love if you choose to love him and your neighbors.
What does it mean to love God and your neighbors? Will God forgive everyone who loves God and their neighbors? Will God forgive us if we choose to love him and our neighbors with the "least" love we can give? Will God forgive us if we love him and our neighbors with "more" love than the "least" love we can give, yet choose not to love as God would have us love? Will God forgive us only if we choose to do what we can and should do, only if we choose to love as God would have us love?
I intuitively believe that God will forgive only those who love God and their neighbors. At the same time, I do not believe that it is possible for us to identify those who will be forgiven for specific choices to do less than God would have them do, and those who will not be forgiven. If we are not willing to love as God would have us love, I believe that God alone will judge who, if anyone, will be forgiven for choosing to love him and their neighbors with a "lesser" love.
What should you choose to do if you are not willing to love as God would have you love and you are faced with the choice to love God and your neighbors with the "least" love or with "more" than the "least" love you can give? When you make the choice to love God and your neighbors with "less" love or with "more" love, choose to love God and your neighbors with the "most" love you are willing to love them with. For example, I have faith that if out of love for your hungry neighbors you may choose to give food to 100 or 50 or 20 of them, you can and should choose to love as God would have you love, you should give food to the 100. If you choose not to do what you can and should do, if you choose not to love as God would have you love, then do not give food to 20 neighbors, give food to 50 neighbors.
I strongly believe that if I know and understand that I can and should love the Lord my God with all my heart, with all my mind, with all my soul, and with all my strength, and love my neighbor as myself, then I know and understand what it means to love God and my neighbor as God would have me love, and I know and understand what it means to love God and my neighbor with a lesser love.
It may be that God will forgive you only if you love him with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. If that is true, what I have said about choosing a lesser love is wrong, and choosing either a lesser love or no love will lead you to eternal, loveless, punishment. Yet one of my strongest beliefs is that God will forgive many, most, or all, of those of you who love God and who love your neighbors, even if you do not love him with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength, and do not love your neighbor as yourself.
If you are not willing to love God and your neighbors as God commands, love God with as much of your heart, your soul, your mind, and your strength as you are willing to love him with, and love your neighbor as much as yourself as you are willing to love them, with the hope that God may forgive you.