Verse of the Day

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength." Mark 12:30

This verse is actually Jesus's response to a question from an educated Pharisee that was very familiar with the law (he actually taught the law). As happened often, the leaders were constantly trying to "trap" Jesus into looking foolish so that they would have an excuse to arrest Him. The question was basically which commandment is the most important. Jesus did also state that after the above commandment to "Love your neighbor as yourself", and that there were no other commandments as important as these two.

This story is also referenced in Matthew 22 and Luke 10.

As I was thinking of this verse this morning and felt prompted to reference it, I just had this "oh to be a fly on the wall" moment. No one could argue with his response, and the questioner actually agreed and basically said that Jesus had answered well.

Love is often times ephemeral in society today. By this I mean people fall "in and out of love" all the time. What this commands us to do is to "Love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength". How many of us can even fathom love like that. Today many people do have a transient view on love. You hear all the time, oh, we just fell out of love. Or we just don't love each other like we used to. (This is not just in marraige relationships that I am referring to).

However, the kind of love that Jesus is referring to is an agape love. By this I mean divine, self-sacrificing, unconditional love. Love without end our boundaries. To love that much can be painful, but it will also be more rewarding than anything we can imagine. God's love for us is infinite and transcends all boundaries. God wants our love, our praise, our devotion. If we give these to Him, He will bless us in ways that we cannot imagine. Today tell the Lord how much you love Him. Tell Him tomorrow, and the next day, and the next, etc. He wants to hear it, and he wants our love for Him to grow, as we grow in our relationship with Him.