MATTHEW 22:37-38

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.”

TO PONDER

The Greek language has several words to describe ‘love’, all the way from the simple affection of friendship to something much, much, deeper. In the above verses the verb used was ‘agapao’ – the commitment of devotion that is directed by the will and can be commanded as a duty.  Jesus’ words leave little doubt that to love our Lord above everything and with our whole being is a command.                            

In Sunday school I can remember we were taught this verse and it always was with the First Commandment – ‘You shall have no other gods’ What does this mean? We should fear, love and trust in God above all things.

When Jesus died on the cross, he bore all our sin and we, with our sinful nature, are no longer abhorrent to God and can approach him in prayer anytime, all the time, knowing he will hear us. When we share our cares and worries with God, we are trusting him and can find peace. When we try to fix things ourselves, we have taken our eyes off God and our issues become our idols.  Daily we are faced with situations, and people, that can take our eyes off our God. However, the more we include God in every aspect of our lives the more we learn to love and know him, to entrust our lives to him and the stronger our devotion to him becomes

When God is the sole object of our devotion we want to serve and please him. When we look at how his son Jesus, served his Father while he lived on earth, we see the kind of love we are commanded to show. We see our love of God requires us to love our fellowman and not to discriminate; it demands that we help those in need, care for the helpless and share generously God’s word, telling our stories of how God has blessed us and enriched our lives and how much he loves us, wanting to live in close loving relationship with us. - this is the first and greatest commandment.

PRAYER: God of love, I thank you for my parents, teachers and so many of your faithful children who have explained, taught, and shown by example what wholeheartedly loving you means. I thank you that with the help of the Holy Spirit you continue to help me trust you more completely and talk with you about my joys and sadness and every other issue, knowing you hear me, I praise and thank you for that. Amen

Today's devotion written by Maureen Macpherson, LifeWay Newcastle