Day 3 of 6 days:

Tuesday

How busy are you on a typical week? Moving from one activity to the next and filling our calendar with commitments can be exhausting. We may be doing lots of really good things, but can we actually do any of them well when we have so much on our plate?

It’s easy to confuse our busyness with purpose. Being busy might make us feel important, or our perception of worthiness may be tied to what we do instead of who we are. But maybe we’re not supposed to be consumed with activity every hour of the day, and instead focus on doing a few things really well.

Many of the religious leaders in Jesus’ time had made the law complicated and burdensome. There were many things “to do” in order to maintain good standing, but when one of these scribes came to ask Jesus about the greatest commandment, it didn’t turn into a long-winded technical debate.

Jesus had a simple answer. It’s not about the breadth of things you do, it’s about the depth in which you do them. Love God and love people with everything you’ve got!

We can’t love God with just one compartment of our being. We can’t just serve Him by attending a church service for an hour on Sunday or sending up an occasional prayer. We can’t honor Him with our mouth but set our hearts on material things. He is meant to be Lord over our WHOLE lives.

Jesus gives us the greatest commandment and a follow up:

• Love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.
• Love others as yourself.

Let’s focus on these two things today: How can I love God more fully and what can I do to show love to others?

Mark 12:28-34 King James Version

²⁸ And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all?

²⁹ And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:

³⁰ And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.

³¹ And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.

³² And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he:

³³ And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.

³⁴ And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. And no man after that durst ask him any question.