Thursday, July 27, 2017
Although he didn’t do it with the best of intentions, a religious lawyer once asked Jesus which was the greatest commandment in the law. 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. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matthew 7:37-40) This simply means that anyone who can fulfill these two commandments, will automatically keep the other eight. But let me be clear: We are not talking here about merely believing it in our head; we are talking about actually loving God with all our being. In fact, I believe that anyone who loves the Lord in this manner, will also love his neighbor.
When we think about it, everything in life would be many times better if everyone did things with all their heart, even in the small, simple things many deem insignificant. For example, if you cook a meal for people you love, I choose to believe it will be more delicious and satisfying if you do it with all your heart. If your spouse, or your children, or your parents do something for you, it will mean so much more to you if you know that they did it with a heart filled with love. Even in church, the prayers, the singing, yes even the preaching will touch people more deeply when those who did it, did it with all their heart.
What about you? How often do you do things for God or for others with “all your heart?” How many things in a day can we find that we don’t have to put all our heart into it? That’s a tough question, right? Many years ago, a young lady who was helping us fold the church bulletin for that Sunday, noticed the way the other volunteers were doing it. She turned to me and asked: “These bulletins don’t have to be perfectly folded, right?” I answered: “Well, it depends on who your doing it for. Are you doing it for me or for God?” She quickly replied: “I see what you mean.” Assuming you are a genuine child of God, I believe you will ask the Lord to help you do more things with all your heart from now on, that is, if you aren’t already.
God’s word for today: (Psalm 119:2) “Blessed are they that keep His testimonies and that seek Him with the whole heart.”
