2nd in a series of 4. About a 4 minute read.
Things feel upside down? It may be because confusing confusing-ness seems to be hitting us from every side.
Right is wrong. Wrong is right.
“Diversity” is championed. Integrity is not.
Education seems kind of like indoctrination.
Freedom of speech seems to mean “I am free to say what supports my bias, and you are not.”
AI is smart . . . blindingly fast smart. But some of the folk who have created it are saying, “Whoa, whoa, whoa. Let’s slow down and think about this a bit.”
Predictions about the “end times” abound–but rather than being filled with joyful expectation, or Spirit-propelled, urgent compassion for a lost and dying world–we may wring our hands in anxiety because . . . what if God isn’t pre-trib?!
Flashback
The country is under enemy occupation and oppression. Religious duplicity is the spiritual and cultural norm. Not surprisingly, those in power and authority are blind to the hypocrisy of it all.
Still, for many, upside down is being flipped right side up. And that’s a good thing.
The scene unfolds
For some, there is insecurity and tension. Who is this guy, and what can we do to keep Him under control?
For yet others, there is hope and anticipation. Who is this guy, and can I really trust Him to set me free from these burdensome things that I can’t control?
Yet another trap is being set by the religious establishment hoping to cause the Teacher to make some kind of incriminating, jeopardizing statement.
“An expert of the Law stood up to test Jesus. ‘Teacher,’ he asked, ‘What must I do to inherit eternal life?’” (Luke 10:25-37).
The Teacher responds with a question that establishes the authority source for the answer and keeps the response in the personal rather than simply theological and theoretical. “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?”
The expert religious lawyer replies, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind. . .’”
Good answer. The Teacher replies, “You have answered correctly. Do this and you will live.”
It’s important to remember that when things seem nuts the most important things never change.
What is the most important? “Love me utterly and completely with all you’ve got.”
Join me standing in the shoes of the religious lawyer. Is it possible we are asking, “Uh, Teacher, how little can I get away with and still have eternal life?”
The answer has to do with all, not how little we can get away with. Yet if you are like me, it sure is tempting to think in terms of how little love for Him we can get away with rather than how much love He deserves.
Whether the economy collapses, or our politicians and religious leaders and systems may be into deceiving, defrauding, and destroying us . . . or even when our own sense of false piety betrays us . . . our Teacher has already given us the correct answer to the test question.
Some things never change.
Our highest priority no matter what’s going on? “Love God with all . . .”
I think you see where I’m going with this, where God has been taking me with this. Maybe you are on the same journey. You know . . . we think we have already settled the all thing. Then as the journey unfolds we discover there is more to all than the all we initially had when we first started going all-out.
I wonder if your experience is like mine. I think I am all-in for God, going all-out for Him, when the Spirit–either subtly or dramatically–seems to say, “Have you perhaps forgotten this is all about loving God with all you’ve got? Have you left your priority and your ‘first love’?
Or is it that you find more of what you feel you need by fretting over the things you can’t control–and that includes how crazy things may feel right now?”
Some things never change . . . like our highest priority.
When we are so in love with God that it is all, then we are prepared for anything that comes that may distract us from our Love.
“Do this and you will live.”
Love the Lord with all your heart, your will, your emotions, with your deepest convictions. Yes, my Love, in this moment, by the choice and commitment of my heart, with deepest conviction, I love you.
Love the Lord with all your soul, with the whole immaterial part of who I truly am. Yes, Lover of my soul, I invite you to reveal to me how to love you completely in the soul part of who I am, completely and without reservation.
Love the Lord with all your strength, with every ounce of physical strength that I have. Yes, Give of strength, I invite you to guide me in improving my health and increasing my strength that I may have maximum strength with which to love you.
Love the Lord with all your mind, with the what-I-think-about part of who I am. Yes, Master of my mind, I invite you to into all my thoughts, teaching me to joyfully discipline and guard my mind so that I can love you with all my mind.
I wonder if pursuing this highest priority brings the shift we need, the perspective adjustment, to live above the confusing confusing-ness of what otherwise seems very uncertain times.
“Do this and you will live.”
To embrace the One who loves us above all others with all we have, with all that we are, puts us in the right place. To eschew the distractions to all that would pull us apart and destroy us as Jesus-followers, personally and corporately, is to embrace the reason for our existence. It’s the stuff of 1 Corinthians 10:31 and Revelation 7:9-12.
“Do this and you will live.”
Let’s talk about it
If you were to place yourself on a scale of 1 to 10 on how you are doing with the Great Commandment, what would it be? How do you feel about that? More importantly, how does God feel about that?
Jesus said, “Do this and you will live.” In the context of the lawyer’s question, Jesus seems to be talking about more than eternal life. In what way does Jesus’ answer bring together the now-life and the next-life?
Thinking of heart, soul, strength, and mind, what changes do you think God would have you make that will help you love God with all you’ve got?
Thanks. What if God isn’t pre-trib? Had to laugh at that one but some people likely worry about it. I am concerned about politics but still trust God much more than that. We find truth and consistency only in God. Everything else seems to point in the wrong direction.
Thank you, Charles. “We find truth and consistency only in God.” Amen to that!