#greatest commandments

"'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. [And] you shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There [are] no other commandment[s] greater than these."

Matthew 26:6-13 tell the story of a woman who anointed Jesus’ head with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume while he was eating in the home of a man called “Simon the Leper.” (Presumably, Simon had been healed by Jesus and was no longer leprous.) Jesus’ disciples were indignant when they saw what the woman had done. They asked, “Why this waste? This perfume could have been sold at a high…

Monday, 4/11/22

So... we're entering the last week of Lent and the last five chapters of Mark...

SCRIPTURE:

Jesus answered, “The foremost is, ‘Hear, Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one; "'and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ "The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” 

~ Mark 12:29-31

OBSERVATION:

The Ten Commandments and all of the rules and dictates in Leviticus, Deuteronomy, and even the letters of Paul "boiled down" to these two commandments...

Love God...

Love people... beginning with myself...

In this order - if I truly love God, then I can't help but love people - including myself - because God always wants what's best for me - in spite of my wants...  

These are "forward" thinking - not "dwell on the past" thinking...

APPLICATION:

Consider what I'm doing - or about to do - Is it God loving? People loving?

Love God...

Love people...

In that order... going forward...

PRAYER:

Most gracious heavenly Father God - forgive my complicating things You have made plain and simple... Thank You for spelling it out so clearly that I can understand and place the things I do in the light of how or if they are proof of my love for You and for others... Grant that Your Holy Spirit's power reminds me to go forward in following Your will, to love You and others, as Jesus did and showed in His passion and sacrifice, and You proved in resurrecting Him over the sin and death in my life... In His Name, and for Your fame, and Your glory in all things, always...

[=][=]+[=]+[=][=]

Be in prayer for the gatherings you may attend for Easter (and perhaps Good Friday...)

...and for the next step in our S.O.A.P.-ing along that begins next Monday... any suggestions?

Love y'all - in and because of Him...

g

His-word-is-alive:

So, for our upcoming journey, I took my car in to have its 20K mile checkup and an oil change.  All turned out well except one part that needed to be replaced since it was very dirty.  Our van was given the okay for the journey and so we continue to…