Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” — Matthew 22:34-40
“The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” — Mark 12:29-31
Our world is filled with noise. For many of us, from the time we wake up to our noisy alarm clocks to the time we turn off the noisy TV and go to bed, our lives are filled with the noise of car radios, retail Muzak, jobsite buzz, and wild children. It wouldn’t be much of a problem if we had the chance to get to a quiet place now and then to spend time with God, but we find that once we get to that quiet place, the noise in our heads just keeps going. Worries and concerns of responsibilities yet undone, projects yet unfinished, and decisions yet undecided swirl through our brains. Then, as if that weren’t enough, the “spiritual” noise of competing world philosophies, self-help gurus, and biblical interpretation all enter into the picture too.
What if we could cut through all the noise to get down to the one, two, or more essentials in life? What if we could identify and focus on just a few things well enough that the others would either fall into place or lose separate significance?
Well, that’s exactly what Jesus is talking about here. This week, we’ll consider four “essentials” according to Jesus—four things we simply must give our lives to—and to get us started, today we look at what Jesus calls the most important of them all. Jesus tells us to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. Elsewhere, Jesus has already said to “seek first His kingdom and His righteousness…”
In summary fashion, the point is that God must come first in every aspect of our lives. All priorities begin with the priority of putting God first. In my heart, my emotional life, God comes first. In my soul, from where intimacy comes, God must be first. In my mind, my thought life, God comes first. In my strength, how I use my resources, God must come first.
In our church, we express this priority by claiming God as our first core value, and this is what we mean by it…
Our number one core value is GOD himself. We put GOD at the top of every list, and we let him speak for himself. If he says something in the Bible, then we believe it and work to follow it. If he doesn’t say something in the Bible then we tread with great caution and do not put words in his mouth that he hasn’t spoken.
More than all other things, we want to get in touch with our creator and experience the real presence of GOD in our lives every day, and we recognize his Son JESUS, who died for us, as the only way to know him.
BIG IDEA FOR THE DAY: What will it take for God to take first place today?
