The greatest man who ever lived gave us the greatest command ever given that we might experience the greatest life ever offered. Jesus was once asked a profound question.
Then one of the scribes came…and asked Him, “Which is the first commandment of all?”
Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. (Mark 12:28-30)
This is the most stirring challenge Jesus ever gave humankind. To experience this love is true revival. Revival is when we start contending for the 1st commandment in our lives. In my previous blogs I’ve looked at loving with all of our heart, soul, and mind. Today we conclude with loving God with all our strength.
Strength. This is what we give ourselves to each day. To love God with all of our strength is to love Him with our most important asset—our time, energy, and money. This is how we define our values and identity. Our values are not what we say our values are, but how we live. Literally speaking, how we invest our time, energy, and money is the true definition of what we love and value.
When you get up in the morning, your first actions define your day and more importantly, define your values. It’s the seven days a week use of time that define us. Who we listen to, what we do, and where we give our money—that’s who we are and what we are becoming.
The FBI put out a report many years ago that when tracking a person of interest, the best place to begin was to confiscate their checkbook. They found that with one month’s supply of used checks, they could determine the values and identity of that person within 90% accuracy.
Loving God with all of our strength is defined not by the hour spent on Sunday morning, as important as that is, but rather the other 167 hours of the week. I’m from Georgia, I’m not the smartest guy in the world, but I figured it out, I want the greatest life ever offered. What about you?
On the Road,
Steve
www.theroad.org
www.facebook.com/theroadcs
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