He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.'” –Luke 10:27 I recently read the parable of the good Samaritan, and couldn’t help but notice the first commandment that God gave the Israelites was to love him. And it wasn’t to be a casual love, but a whole-hearted, deep-in-your-soul, to-your-last-breath, wholly-conscious love. This must have been a unique concept of God at the time, for I can’t imagine people who worshipped pagan gods felt any affection for their idols. It is the only true God who initiates relationship…