If a non-believer asked you to tell them, in just a few words, what Christianity is all about, what would you say?  Jesus gave a very simple answer: “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is thefirst and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matt 22:37-39, see also Luke 10:27, Mark 12:30-31, NKJV) As Christians, our entire life revolves around these two simple rules: Love the Lord your God and Love your neighbor. Notice the phrase that begins both of these commands: “You shall love!” Love is the central command of Christianity. The Greek word that is used in these verses is Agapeseis. (You will recognize the root word – Agape!) Agapeseis is a single word that means “You Shall Love.” What is Christianity all about? Agapeseis! You shall love! This is the command that Jesus said, “All the Law and the Prophets hang on…” (Matt 22:40) It all begins with “You Shall Love.” While Christianity is simple, it isn’t always easy. Often, we do not feel love toward others. Sometimes, we do not even feel very much in love with God! We try, we even pray about it, but we just do not feel it! (And let’s be honest, some of our neighbors are not easy to love.) Why is it so difficult to love? Is it possible we do not understand what this word Love really means? In our culture, we routinely confuse two very different ideas: love and affection. In our everyday language, in our music, in our movies, in our literature, when we say, “I love you” we are usually describing a feeling of affection. Most often it is romantic affection, but even when describing friendship it is all about how we feel. When Jesus says, “YOU SHALL LOVE,” He is not talking about affection. Let’s look at how the Apostle Paul explains love (1 Corinthians 13:4-7): “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always preserves.”  Did you see anything in there, anything at all, about how you should feel? “Love is patient.” That is not a feeling, it is an action. Being patient is a way of acting. “Love is kind.” Again, no feeling here, kindness is an action. “It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.” Action, action, action. “It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.” There is not one feeling here. It is a list of ways we should act. “It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always preserves.” Notice that Paul says, four times in a row, that we should not only act this way but we should always act this way. No wonder we find it difficult. Jesus said, “You shall love,” He did not say, “you should feel great affection for…” As Paul makes clear, this love is an action The central commands of Christianity begin with agapeseis, “you shall love.” The way we feel has very little to do with it. Sitting around hoping we will be overcome with feelings of affection for our neighbor probably won’t do much good. But, as with so much else we do as followers of Jesus, when we turn our faith into action, when we spend our time acting out agapeseis in our everyday lives, the Holy Spirit will begin to transform us. Pretty soon we will find ourselves feeling the love we have been putting into action. Devotional Meditation: “Don’t Feel the Love” This devotional is adapted  from the prison ministry Jubilee Reunion Program.  For more information about Jubilee, please visit http://jubileeprisonministry.org.