Liz’s Morning Devotional based upon Upper Room
July 27, 2021
Read Mark 12:28-34
28 One of the legal experts heard their dispute and saw how well Jesus answered them. He came over and asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” 29 Jesus replied, “The most important one is Israel, listen! Our God is the one Lord, 30 and you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your being, with all your mind, and with all your strength. 31 The second is this, You will love your neighbor as yourself.No other commandment is greater than these.” 32 The legal expert said to him, “Well said, Teacher. You have truthfully said that God is one and there is no other besides him. 33 And to love God with all of the heart, a full understanding, and all of one’s strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself is much more important than all kinds of entirely burned offerings and sacrifices.” 34 When Jesus saw that he had answered with wisdom, he said to him, “You aren’t far from God’s kingdom.” After that, no one dared to ask him any more questions.
Good Morning! The answer is . . . Love!
If love is the answer, what is the question? I can think of many questions for which love is the answer. For example, How should we treat others? What should we show our God? Why did Jesus give His life for us? My head and my heart are filled with songs about love. As a child of the sixties, the Beatles were an important part of my coming of age. I remember when Paul and John were disagreeing about song content. John wanted to write songs to make political or ideological statements, while Paul wanted to write love songs. What’s wrong with that . . . I’d like to know? Then there are other top hits like, All You Need is Love and What the World Needs Now Is Love, Sweet Love. So what is love? How do we show love? To whom should we give love?
First, we must love God with all our hearts, mind, and soul. Second, we must love our neighbor as ourselves. We must never lose sight of the idea that our neighbor is everyone else. Throughout the New Testament, we read stories of caring for others, even the outcasts as Jesus taught us how to live in faith. Jesus showed us the ultimate love when He gave His life for us so that we might have eternal life. Love is Surrender: To fully love we must surrender our lives to Christ and accept the Holy Spirit working within us to transform us into loving children of God. Unconditional love is tough when we look at others through the lens of adult eyes. We must look with our hearts and work to meet the needs of all. Love is not a facade through which we appear to be caring, we must trust God and give ourselves to serving others as Christ served us. The world, past, present, and future needs Love, sweet Love. It’s the only thing that there’s just too little of. Cast off the cynicism and judging that grows within us and love God fully and love others as yourself.
Loving God, Thank You for loving us. Love seems like such an easy, simple thing. Yet most of us struggle with the concept of surrendering ourselves to you in love. We are blinded by the outside appearance of those we meet and we have trouble seeing the wonderful being hiding inside. Open our eyes, ears, and hearts fully so that we might be able to share your love with the world. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen
Thought for the day: How will I love someone as myself today?
Don’t talk about love! Exude love! Pastor Liz
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