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When we read in Matthew 22:36–40 about our Lord being questioned by the Pharisees as to which is the greatest commandment in the Law, He answers:
Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. It comes first. The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. Everything in the Law and the prophets hangs on these two commandments.
So Christ is telling us that if all God’s laws had to be summarized—and if He had only one commandment—it would be this: that we are to love God and love each other.
In Colossians 3:12–14, Paul expands this further, instructing us to put on the “garment” of:
Compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Be forbearing with one another, and forgiving… beyond all these things put on and wrap yourselves in [unselfish] love, which is the perfect bond of unity [for everything is bound together in agreement when each one seeks the best for others].
These qualities—love, compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience; to seek the best for others; to be of service to others—form the very soil from which grows the radiant tree of unity. They are the very creators of unity.
This is also explained in the Baha’i writings, where we read:
Unity is the expression of the loving power of God and reflects the reality of Divinity. It is resplendent in this Day through the bestowals of light upon humanity.
Unity is not foreign to us; we are, in fact, immersed in the unity and wholeness of His creation. The universe—with its trillions of galaxies, stars, and planets—is one unified whole, as is our Earth, its plants, animals, and humanity. We are one interrelated, interdependent whole.
This oneness and wholeness is the result of the power of affinity that God places in His creation—a power that causes atoms and molecules to bind, interact, and harmoniously function together. The force of God’s creative power—His love—radiates and expresses this affinity and attraction throughout the entire universe, making the very existence of physical creation possible.
What is the implication for mankind? Isn’t it that unity and oneness are the inevitable and natural outcomes of God’s commands and teachings? That unity, peace, and harmony are inevitable—if we simply align ourselves with God’s commandments?
The heart that loves its Lord naturally follows His commands. In the Baha’i writings we read:
…there is need of a superior power to overcome human prejudices, a power which nothing in the world of mankind can withstand and which will overshadow the effect of all other forces at work in human conditions. That irresistible power is the love of God. [God] has proclaimed the oneness of the world of humanity… [He] has declared that difference of race and color is like the variegated beauty of flowers in a garden. Therefore… the various races of humankind lend a composite harmony and beauty of color to the whole. Let all associate, therefore, in this great human garden even as flowers grow and blend together side by side without discord or disagreement between them,
and,
if unity be gained, all other problems will disappear of themselves.
The Word of God has infinite creative power. Remember, it is this very Word that has called all creation into being. If we but turn to His Word, absorb its power, and act obediently, we too will create unity, peace, and the well-being of humankind.
I was born and raised in Los Angeles and moved to Atlanta to attend medical school. It was during my time in Atlanta that I became a Baha'i and met my wife, Maria, who was in med school with me. We have 2 children who...
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