Mark 12:30-31
30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ [a]This is the first commandment. 31 And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
Quickword: The Command To Love!
I read an article yesterday from Business Insiders that referenced a poll of young adults that found that 33% of young adults did not want to befriend anyone who voted differently than they did. This poll conducted shows a 26% increase in this sentiment since a similar poll was taken in 2017 when it was 7%. The polling numbers were shocking to me as young adults typically are more open minded than older adults. The question is what are the factors leading to such separation. I would unscientifically suggest that it’s the political climate that we live in. The disagreements over such hot button issues of abortion, immigration, orientation and identity to name a few. We are still dealing with the ramifications of slavery, Jim Crow and segregation. We are dealing even more with the division of wealth, the have and the have nots. This text in Mark even in its simplicity gives us a formula for coming together as opposed to further separation. The Gospel writer instructs us that we should:
- Love the Lord our God with our hearts, soul, mind and strength.
- We should love our neighbors as we love ourselves.
- For the believer in Christ these are not options from God but commands.
I need to have a moment of transparency here, yesterday in this space I wrote about the need to confess and pray. As I write this post, I must be honest, this text convicts me. I intentionally wrote the previous statement in the present tense. There are some people who work my last nerve. I love them but I don’t like them. My wife recently convinced me that my statement was not truthful. She asked me how could I love and not like someone? After attempting to explain myself, the Holy Spirit expressed to me that what I was trying to do was have it both ways. In order to love, we must adhere completely to these two commandments found in this text. Love God with all of our being and to love our neighbors as ourselves. My brothers and my sisters I’m making a concerted effort to truly love everyone. I’m encouraged because of the example of love expressed by God toward us. That love being while we were still sinners, God loved us enough to send his only son, Jesus Christ to die for your sins and my sins. If we would just love one another, most or all of our conflicts would cease and we would be united and not divided. As we journey through this day, remember that what we as believers have been commanded to do, Love! You pray for me and I’ll pray for you…
Yes sometime we try to have it my way like the Burger King saying. But God looks at our hearts and yes we are commanded to love. So we pack it up and thank God Say I’m sorry. And he give us another chance to get it right So each day we rise to a new day to love the unloveable and we try over and over until God say well done my good and faithful servant. Amen!!!!