Wednesday, August 9, 2017

What Do You Value The Most?

Mark 12:28-31, NKJV, "28 Then one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, perceiving[a] that He had answered them well, asked Him, “Which is the first commandment of all?”

29 Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 And you shall love the Lordyour God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’[b] This is the first commandment.[c] 31 And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’[d] There is no other commandment greater than these.”

My friend Barbara has been listening to Rick Warren's podcast on his 40 Days of Love study. It moved her so much that she decided to lead a small group on it.
The book that goes with the study is "The Relationship Principles of Jesus" by Tom Holladay.
I'm only half way through Day 4, but so far, I have learned a lot and I'm really enjoying it.
My blog post title is the question, "What do you value the most?" I ask that, because we see from the Scripture posted above, that Jesus valued relationships the most.
The "scribe" as it says here, is someone who was very versed in the law. They had the Old Testament, most of it, memorized. The problem with the law was that the men added to it.
God only wrote and gave 10 Commandments. The Jewish people were trying to uphold over 600 "laws". That is not how they were supposed to be living.
So, when this scribe asked the question, "What is the greatest commandment?" I bet he was pretty surprised to hear Jesus' answer.
Here are a few highlights from the book:
Jesus came to show you how to enjoy a new way of relation to God and to others.
Sometimes the answer to a problem comes through personal reflection alone - but this isn't one of those times. We're talking about relationships - and so it only makes sense that you have to get outside of yourself for your relationships to change. You'll never change your relational priorities by continually doing an internal examinations of your priorities. The only way to change your priorities is to being to make different choices in your relationships.
When you boil it all down, questions about priority are questions about faith. If I have a faith that God will care for me, it frees me to live with a certain set of priorities; if instead I feel that it's up to me to take care of myself, my priorities will go in a completely different direction.
In order to make your relationship with God and others the top priority, you're going to have to trust God like never before! 
God does not demand of me that I accomplish great things. He does demand of me that I strive for excellence in my relationships.
We should be valuing our relationships the most. First with God, then with others. Do you love Him like that? With EVERYTHING in you? If not, why not?
I think the key to trusting God is first, getting to know Him, and second loving Him.
How can you trust someone you don't know or love?
It's my prayer that you will fall in love with God and learn how much He loves you. It will change your life. I know it has mine.
God bless you today and always.

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