One of the scribes came near and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, he asked him, "Which commandment is the first of all?" Jesus answered, "The first is, 'Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall 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, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these."
Mark 12:28-31
In these few verses from the Gospel of Mark (found also in
Matthew 22 and Luke 10) we discover our true purpose as individual Christians and as the Church. Our purpose is to love God with our
whole heart (our emotions), with all our soul (our spirit), with all our mind (our intellect) and with all our strength (our physicality). If we could merely focus on fulfilling this purpose in ourselves then our lives would be free from all the worry and concerns that
plague us and prevent us from bearing the fruit of the Holy Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness,
gentleness, and self-control). Fruit that I have tried to achieve through my own strength but which can only be acquired as
a gift freely given to us as a result of our willingness to strive to love the Lord our God with all that we are - emotion, spirit,
intellect and physicality. The amazing thing is that God will not only reward our effort, He will give us the ability to do
it.
Throughout my life, I have had to make this realization over and over again. You see it's very
easy, even for a pastor, to forget to keep the main thing, the main thing and God is THE main thing. Nothing else is THE main thing,
only God. THE main thing is not ministry, or preaching, or leadership. It is not mission, or fellowship or church work.
It is not finding that perfect "other" or raising a family, or earning a living or getting a degree. It is not having that perfect
home or perfect yard or perfect game or perfect anything. It is not money or a balanced budget. THE main thing is God
and God alone.
I once thought that if we just did all the stuff that we are supposed to do, then we
would come to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. But that's backwards. We cannot bear the fruit
of the Spirit, or love our neighbors, or love ourselves by our own striving - only by loving God. What we need to focus
on is loving God with all that we are and in all that we do. When we do that, we will find that all the other stuff will be
accomplished.
How many of us honestly strive to achieve our true purpose at all times? Are we
striving to love God with your whole heart when we are angry with, or jealous of, someone? Do we strive to love God with all
our soul when we can't take time to study Scripture or pray daily? Do we strive to love God with all our mind when we spend
so many hours mesmerized by television or a video game? Do we strive to love God with all our strength when we overeat or poison
our bodies with chemicals. I want to challenge you, as well as, myself, to begin today to put - and to keep -- God at the very
center of our lives -- to put loving God at the top of our to-list. I believe that somehow, if we'll just strive to be more attentive
to loving God, then we will find our lives to be full to overflowing.
Blessings of Joy and Hope,