Recently I ask a group of students if the gospel was complicated and their response was – “it sometimes can be,” I followed the first question with this – “was it meant to be” to which they answered “no.” So exactly how did we take something that is supposed to be simple and complicate it? We bind it up in our preconceived notions and agendas to the point of complicating the simple.
Over the next couple of days I want to examine this concept. Today we will start with a question (a trap that was set) that was asked of Jesus.
Jesus was once asked what was the greatest of all the commandments and He answered “Love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength and your neighbor as yourself.” There is nothing complicated about what or how He answered that question. God is to be most important in our lives. We should love Him with all that makes us who we are. To give Him any other place in our lives is to break this commandment. It is fascinating that we would say that we love God that way and yet we barely spend anytime with Him. We allow everything else in our lives to take up time and we give the One who should be most important our leftovers. If I loved my wife the way I often love my God I would not be married very long. You may say that you go to church three times a week – that would be about 2% of the total time in a week. Loving God is more than just going to church, reading a verse out of a devotional, and praying before meals – it is a lifestyle. It is how we should be approaching everything in our lives. People that we come in contact with should be able to tell that we are in love with God. That doesn’t mean that we won’t stumble and fall. A lot of what people will observe will be how we pick ourselves up, ask for forgiveness and go on loving God.
Next time I will deal with the second part of Jesus’ answer. Until then – keep your eyes on Jesus and try the Hershey’s kisses with hot cocoa crème filling.
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