OUR GREATEST COMMANDMENTS
Mark 12:29-31
Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one. And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
Personal Challenge
The whole expectation of what God wants us to do is in these three verses. If one ever has a doubt or a concern about how to live a truly righteous and godly life, it is here. Jesus summed everything up in two commandments for us to live our lives by. We are to love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind, and with all our strength. And we are to love our neighbor as ourselves. There is nothing in here about how many services we should attend, or how many theological books we should read, or how well we keep the fast. If we do not do those things, and everything else that we do, out of love for God and love of others, then it doesn’t matter. If we jeer at the person who returns from a hiatus from church, then we have failed. If we demand an explanation before we let them back in, then we have failed. If we engage in the gossip mill about another without reaching out to them with encouragement and love, then we have failed. If we pride ourselves on how "godly" our church is at the exclusion of those who disagree with us without focusing on reconciliation and unity then we have failed. Woe to us if we act pharisaical in our piety and not show love to one another. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!
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