Creator, Father, King #214

No other commandment is greater than these.

WE HUMANS HAVE A bad habit of complicating simple things in life.

Take eating vegetables, for instance. When we were younger, our parents said, “Eat your veggies.” Simple enough, right? Obey parents, fill body with essential vitamins, and grow up to be a future Olympic star!

But we fussed and let the veggies go cold. Our parents harped on us to finish the cold veggies, we continued to whine, and the problem worsened. Finally, when our parents weren’t looking, we dumped the cold veggies in the trash. No veggies and no vitamins. Now, we sit on the sofa and watch the Olympics on TV.

We should’ve just eaten the veggies.

This, of course, is hyperbole. But the underlying principle remains.

We can complicate simple biblical truths, too. Check out Mark 12:28-34, where “one of the teachers of religious law” asked Jesus which Old Testament commandment was most important. This occurred on Tuesday of Passion Week, three days before Jesus’ crucifixion. He replied,

The most important commandment is this: “Listen, O Israel! The LORD our God is the one and only LORD. And you must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.” The second is equally important: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” No other commandment is greater than these.

What’s It Mean?

Oftentimes, we make the Bible out to be a complicated book and Christianity a difficult faith. But they’re not! Scripture can be distilled to this simple maxim: love God wholeheartedly and love others. This is what the Christian life is all about.

God graciously gave us a wonderful book of real-life stories to illustrate his love for us and what our love for him and others should look like. When we love God with all our being and love others as ourselves, we fulfill Scripture.

Of course, none of this is possible on our own. To have this godly love, we need a spiritual overhaul, beginning with God’s Spirit regenerating our sinful hearts to receive salvation and awakening an outward focus in us.

Loving God wholeheartedly and loving others—it’s so simple, it’s beautiful! (And it sure beats cold veggies.)

Now What?

Biblical love is sacrificial. Show love to someone today by putting their desires ahead of your own.

Did You Know?

The religious teacher wasn’t just referring to the Ten Commandments when he asked Jesus about the “most important” commandment. He was likely referencing the 613 individual commandments—248 positives (“dos”) and 365 negatives (“do nots”)—that Jewish scribes traditionally count in the Mosaic law (the first five books of the Old Testament).