MARK 12:28-34 – And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord 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.” And the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher. You have truly said that he is one, and there is no other besides him. And to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And after that no one dared to ask him any more questions.”
THEME OF THE DAY: AT THE END OF THE DAY. Today’s theme is an expression we likely have used or heard during our lives. It means, “When all has been weighed, all considerations pondered, and all dialogues completed, this is the conclusion.” Or we might define the sentence in more simple terms, “This is the bottom line.”
Apply this to the Christian life. At the end of the day, or extend that to “at the end of our lives”, all that will have mattered is did our lives consistently reflect a love for God and people? From a scripture perspective, let’s allow the Apostle Paul to give us the “Biblical end of the day” – If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing (1 Corinthians 13:1-4).
The whole of the Christian life is summed up in the closing verse of 1 Corinthians 13 – So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love (1 Corinthians 13:13). Yet, this must go beyond a mere acknowledgment of this truth. True love is only true love when it has “feet” on it, or action validating its reality. The Apostle John affirms the inseparable connection with a love that professes and a love that acts. He does so through the supreme example of the Lord Jesus – By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth (1 John 3:16-18).
So, at the end of the day, will a life of love have defined us? May the Lord help us to see, understand, and apply that love is the true measurement of both our relationship with the Lord and our walk with Him.
PRAYER: “Father, help me to see at the end of the day, it is all about loving You and people.”
QUOTE: “Without love for God and people, all our knowledge of God and people is worthless.”
Because of Him,
Pastor Jim