In review of Mark 12:29-30 it says, “The most important commandment is this: . . . ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength’” (NLT).
Bottom Line:
Love God with everything you have
What this means to me:
I am to love God with everything I have. I need to be in a intimate relationship with him.
Today's verse comes from the last part of Mark chapter 12. In it we are told of one of the religious leaders asking Jesus, of all the commandments, which is most important? Jesus replied, "The most important commandment is this: 'The Lord our God is the one and only Lord. And you must love the Lord your God with all you heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength. The second is equally important: Love your neighbor as yourself. No other commandment is greater than these. In summary, Love God and love people.’”
Jesus' answer summarized all of God's laws. God's laws are not burdensome. They can be reduced to two simple principles: Love God and love others. These commandments are from the Old Testament. When I love God completely and care for others as I would care for myself, then I have fulfilled the intent of the Ten Commandments and the other Old Testament laws. According to Jesus, these two summarize all God's laws. Therefore I should let these rule my thoughts, decisions, and actions. When I'm uncertain about what to do, ask myself which course of action best demonstrates love for God and love for others.
The Bible says in Mark 12:29-30, “The most important commandment is this: . . . ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength’” (NLT).
There is emotion in these words from Jesus. He’s saying he doesn’t want you to just kind of love him. He wants me to love him passionately — with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength. God doesn’t want my head knowledge; he wants an emotional relationship with me.
Some things to keep in mind in order to understand emotions.
1. First, God has emotions. God is an emotional God. He feels joy, grief, pain, and hatred toward sin. He gets frustrated with people. The only reason you have emotions is because you’re made in God’s image. If God wasn’t an emotional God, you wouldn’t have any emotions.
2. My ability to feel is a gift from God. Emotions are what make me human. It is my emotional ability that allows me to love and create, to be faithful and loyal and kind and generous, and to express all of the emotions that are attached to the good things in life. My emotions may not always seem like a gift, but even the negative ones have a purpose in your life.
3. There are two extremes to avoid.
Emotionalism is the extreme of saying the only thing that matters in life is how I feel — not what I think or what’s right or wrong. Everything in life is based on my emotions, this view says, and they control my life. On the other hand, stoicism says feelings aren’t important at all, and the only things that matter are my intellect and will.
God gave me my emotions for a reason, and he wants me to worship him with all my heart and all my mind.
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