And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.
The words above were spoken to Jesus Christ by a lawyer, seeking to justify himself. The occasion was not a rare one. Many times, throughout the text of the gospels, we find religious leaders and highly religious individuals tempt Jesus and try to trip Him up into acknowledging their righteousness. This attempt, like all of the others was centered around his works and a hope to show that they were sufficient to prove him a righteous man.
Jesus asked the man how he interpreted the law, since that was the foundation upon which he was trying to build his self-righteousness and he gave a concise, yet accurate answer, and Jesus recognized it as such. Then, in an attempt to show all around him how wonderful he was, the man asked Jesus who his neighbor was. Jesus then told the parable of the good Samaritan, and proved once and for all that no one can live up to the concept of "love thy neighbor as thyself."
I find it interesting though, that the man didn't try to tempt Jesus on the concept of loving God with all his heart, soul, strength, and mind. I also think it's pretty obvious why he didn't: he knew that he'd fall flat on his face if he tried to go that route. It's easy to recognize that he, in his arrogance and pride, didn't come anywhere close to passing the first part of that test. In truth though, every one of us falls far short of passing.
Yesterday, there were countless individuals and even entire churches that proved that when they gave the Super Bowl priority over the worship of God. That said, let's not start preparing a pile of stones to throw. No, I didn't do that, and my church didn't do that, and it grieves me to think that so many did, but I can't plead complete innocence. Maybe you didn't skip church for the Super Bowl, and maybe your church didn't throw a Super Bowl party in place of a true church service, but you can't plead complete innocence either.
Have you ever allowed something to come between you and your time in prayer or in God's word? I have to admit that I have. Have you ever allowed your mind to wander while your pastor stood in the pulpit preaching? I have. It stings to admit that, but honesty demands that I must in this case. I'll even go so far as to say that I'd have a great deal of difficulty believing anyone that tries to claim that they've never done those things. This is a point that my pastor has brought out a couple of times recently, and it has been working on me last night and today.
I've dealt with this sort of thing in a couple of posts in the past. I've posted about why Jesus is Precious to the true believer and how we must be careful about Practical Idolatry when we allow other things to come in front of the Lord. Still, this is a little different. This time, it's not a generality. It's more than Jesus simply being of the greatest value, and being in first place in our lives. This time, it's about Him being our all in all at all times.
As long as we're in the flesh, we're never going to get there, and if we want to be all that we can be, we're going to have to face that. When we get to the point that we think we've arrived, no more growth can take place. Instead, this is a call to dedicate ourselves to the Lord every day. Every day, we should strive to do our duty toward God. Taking it one day at a time, we should strive to be fully His.
Does Jesus thrill your soul? If you want to love Him with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind, He'll have to. If not, if you're a Christian, it's a sign that you've left your first love and need to return to Him. If not and you're not a Christian, you need to confess your sin, call upon Him, and trust in Him to be your personal Saviour. The life of the individual whose soul is thrilled by Jesus isn't a perfect life, but it is one that's dedicated to Him.
Luke 10:27
The words above were spoken to Jesus Christ by a lawyer, seeking to justify himself. The occasion was not a rare one. Many times, throughout the text of the gospels, we find religious leaders and highly religious individuals tempt Jesus and try to trip Him up into acknowledging their righteousness. This attempt, like all of the others was centered around his works and a hope to show that they were sufficient to prove him a righteous man.
Jesus asked the man how he interpreted the law, since that was the foundation upon which he was trying to build his self-righteousness and he gave a concise, yet accurate answer, and Jesus recognized it as such. Then, in an attempt to show all around him how wonderful he was, the man asked Jesus who his neighbor was. Jesus then told the parable of the good Samaritan, and proved once and for all that no one can live up to the concept of "love thy neighbor as thyself."
I find it interesting though, that the man didn't try to tempt Jesus on the concept of loving God with all his heart, soul, strength, and mind. I also think it's pretty obvious why he didn't: he knew that he'd fall flat on his face if he tried to go that route. It's easy to recognize that he, in his arrogance and pride, didn't come anywhere close to passing the first part of that test. In truth though, every one of us falls far short of passing.
Yesterday, there were countless individuals and even entire churches that proved that when they gave the Super Bowl priority over the worship of God. That said, let's not start preparing a pile of stones to throw. No, I didn't do that, and my church didn't do that, and it grieves me to think that so many did, but I can't plead complete innocence. Maybe you didn't skip church for the Super Bowl, and maybe your church didn't throw a Super Bowl party in place of a true church service, but you can't plead complete innocence either.
Have you ever allowed something to come between you and your time in prayer or in God's word? I have to admit that I have. Have you ever allowed your mind to wander while your pastor stood in the pulpit preaching? I have. It stings to admit that, but honesty demands that I must in this case. I'll even go so far as to say that I'd have a great deal of difficulty believing anyone that tries to claim that they've never done those things. This is a point that my pastor has brought out a couple of times recently, and it has been working on me last night and today.
I've dealt with this sort of thing in a couple of posts in the past. I've posted about why Jesus is Precious to the true believer and how we must be careful about Practical Idolatry when we allow other things to come in front of the Lord. Still, this is a little different. This time, it's not a generality. It's more than Jesus simply being of the greatest value, and being in first place in our lives. This time, it's about Him being our all in all at all times.
As long as we're in the flesh, we're never going to get there, and if we want to be all that we can be, we're going to have to face that. When we get to the point that we think we've arrived, no more growth can take place. Instead, this is a call to dedicate ourselves to the Lord every day. Every day, we should strive to do our duty toward God. Taking it one day at a time, we should strive to be fully His.
Does Jesus thrill your soul? If you want to love Him with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind, He'll have to. If not, if you're a Christian, it's a sign that you've left your first love and need to return to Him. If not and you're not a Christian, you need to confess your sin, call upon Him, and trust in Him to be your personal Saviour. The life of the individual whose soul is thrilled by Jesus isn't a perfect life, but it is one that's dedicated to Him.
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