Day #40: The Greatest Commandment
"Of all the commandments, which is the most important?"
"The most important one," answered Jesus, "Is this: Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 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 one is this: Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these."
Mark 12:28-31, NIV
One of the reasons that we are taking our time in reading just one chapter from the New Testament each day is so that we can isolate an important thought from that day's reading and take it with us, thinking about it throughout the day. Since we are looking for an important lesson to think about, and since Jesus said that these were the most important commands, I can think of no greater passage to ponder today than this particular one.
The beautiful thing about the Word of God is that it does not take someone with a PHD in religious philosophy to explain what it means. God loves us and wants us to understand His holy Word. He has given us that word in it's pure form and has stated it in a plain and simple way so that we can understand it on our own. Our job is to read it and to think about what it means so that we can better serve Him. And from the very words of Christ, we are told that there is no more important commandment than these we read above.
So, wouldn't today be a great day to truly think about these greatest of all commandments, so that we may better apply them to our lives?
Today's reading is Mark 12. As Jesus said, it contains the most important commandment ever given.