Michael Jordan. Wayne Gretzky. Albert Einstein. Wolfgang Mozart. Muhammad Ali. Oprah Winfrey. Mother Theresa. These are some of the greatest names in their respective fields. A list of greats could go on for days and include a lot of people. If we extended it to other things like cars, cities, foods and other things, the list would be even larger. People will always debate on who is or what is the greatest in everything, but there is one thing that there is no debate on and that is the greatest commandment in the Bible.
It was settled by Jesus in Mark 12:30. One of the religious leaders of the day approached Him and asked, “Of all the commandments, which one is the greatest?” When you think of all the commandments in the Bible, this is a legitimate question. It’s one that anyone would want to know. God’s first commandment was to not eat from the Tree of Knowledge. Adam and Eve broke that one. Later God gave 10 Commandments to Moses. The first one on there was “Thou shalt not have any other gods before me.” They were breaking that one as it was being etched in stone.
When God gives commandments, we tend to break them. We act like a child does when a parent tells them not to do something. “Don’t touch that stove. It’s hot!” And the kid looks at you and touches it anyway. When we think of commandments, we equate them to “Thou shalt nots”, but when this man asked Jesus about the greatest commandment, He didn’t give him a “Thou shalt not.” Instead, He gave him a “Thou shalt do.”
In Mark 12:30, Jesus answered with, “Love The Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” It sounds like such a simple thing to do, but we struggle with each of these areas at times. We might be able to love Him with our heart and soul, but don’t know how to love Him with our mind and strength. It’s tough to love God in all four areas, but when we do, we have the ability to accomplish great things. Our name could be on that list of greats when history looks back on us.
This week I want to focus on each of those areas to see how we can love God in each of these areas of our lives. If that is the greatest commandment, then we should work on doing it as Christians. I believe that if we can love Him in each of these areas, not only will our lives change, but our world will too. It’s time for believers to quit complaining about how bad the world is and to start doing something to change it for the better with our lives. I believe it starts right here in this verse. What do you think?
Devotions by Chris Hendrix 