Bible League: Living His Word You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.Jesus identified our verse for today as being the greatest commandment (Matthew 22:36-38). It is the greatest one because it is the most fundamental one. Since there is nothing greater than God, the commandment to love Him is the greatest one. The commandment that Jesus identified as being second, "Love your neighbor the same as you love yourself" (Matthew 22:39), is second because the object of love is not as great as God. What exactly does it mean to love God? The Greek word for love used in the Gospel of Matthew has more to do with commitment than with feeling. It is to commit oneself, to give oneself over to something, to put something first. The command to love God with all our heart, soul, and strength, then, would mean to totally and wholeheartedly commit ourselves to Him as being first in our lives. Deuteronomy 11:1 says that we should ". . . love the LORD your God. You must do what he tells you to do and always obey his laws, rules, and commands." If we are to love God with all our heart, soul, and strength, then we should obey His commands, including the one to love Him. Loving God is to love Him for who He is and what He is all about. Since God is the designer and creator of all things, it makes sense that our love for Him would include our obedience to His requirements of us. Indeed, how could we truly love God and ignore these requirements? All of us, of course, fall short of the command to love God. Even though we should, we don't always commit ourselves to Him wholeheartedly, and we don't always put Him first. Fortunately for us, when Jesus identified the greatest commandment, He was not trying to set up a legalistic standard that must be obeyed, lest salvation is lost in the balance. The greatest commandment remains a commandment, but, for those in Christ, obedience to the commandment is now measured by what Jesus did, rather than what we do---for "through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous" (Romans 5:19). Bible in a Year Old Testament ReadingGenesis 1, 2 Genesis 1 -- God creates heaven, earth, plants, animals and man NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Genesis 2 -- Adam and Eve's Beginning in the garden of Eden NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB New Testament Reading Matthew 1 Matthew 1 -- The Genealogy, Conception and Birth of Jesus NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Reading Plan Courtesy of Christian Classics Etherial Library. Tyndale Life Application Daily Devotion I am worn out from sobbing.All night I flood my bed with weeping, drenching it with my tears. Insight Pouring out his heart with tears, David was completely honest with God. We can be honest with God even when we are filled with anger or despair because God knows us thoroughly and wants the very best for us. Anger may result in rash outward acts or turning inward toward depression. But because we trust in our all-powerful God, we don't have to be victims of circumstance or be weighted down by the guilt of sin. Challenge Be honest with God, and he will help you turn your attention from yourself to him and his mercy. Morning and Evening by Spurgeon Joshua 5:12 They did eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year.Israel's weary wanderings were all over, and the promised rest was attained. No more moving tents, fiery serpents, fierce Amalekites, and howling wildernesses: they came to the land which flowed with milk and honey, and they ate the old corn of the land. Perhaps this year, beloved Christian reader, this may be thy case or mine. Joyful is the prospect, and if faith be in active exercise, it will yield unalloyed delight. To be with Jesus in the rest which remaineth for the people of God, is a cheering hope indeed, and to expect this glory so soon is a double bliss. Unbelief shudders at the Jordan which still rolls between us and the goodly land, but let us rest assured that we have already experienced more ills than death at its worst can cause us. Let us banish every fearful thought, and rejoice with exceeding great joy, in the prospect that this year we shall begin to be "forever with the Lord." A part of the host will this year tarry on earth, to do service for their Lord. If this should fall to our lot, there is no reason why the New Year's text should not still be true. "We who have believed do enter into rest." The Holy Spirit is the earnest of our inheritance; he gives us "glory begun below." In heaven they are secure, and so are we preserved in Christ Jesus; there they triumph over their enemies, and we have victories too. Celestial spirits enjoy communion with their Lord, and this is not denied to us; they rest in his love, and we have perfect peace in him: they hymn his praise, and it is our privilege to bless him too. We will this year gather celestial fruits on earthly ground, where faith and hope have made the desert like the garden of the Lord. Man did eat angels' food of old, and why not now? O for grace to feed on Jesus, and so to eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan this year! Daily Light on the Daily Path Philippians 3:13,14 Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, • I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.John 17:24 "Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. 2 Timothy 1:12 For this reason I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day. Philippians 1:6 For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. 1 Corinthians 9:24,25 Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win. • Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. Hebrews 12:1,2 Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, • fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit http://www.lockman.org. |
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