I stumbled across the familiar passage in Mark, where the teacher of the law asks Jesus which of the commandments is the greatest. Of course, we know that all commandments boil down to two things: Love the Lord, and love your neighbor. That simple. Then I looked back on the passage. It states: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and will all your soul and will all your mind and will all your strength" (Mark 12:30, NIV). Upon examining this, I realized that this is a pretty taxing command. All my heart, soul, mind and strength? Wow. I must confess, my heart, though completely His, beats for my desires and my will more often than His. And my mind...definitely focused on most everything there is every second of the day, and into the night as well.
I've always known this passage, but lately I saw it in a new light. Instead of seeing how demanding God is, I saw how protective and caring He is toward us. I didn't come to this realization on my own, but through one of the recent speakers here on campus (I can't recall who; there are terribly too many). God asks us to love Him with our all because He will meet our needs and then some. Because He can truly satisfy us, and fill us to the point of overflowing into the lives of others. By loving Him (not ourselves, not a guy or girl, not our possessions) with all of our heart, we are protected from disappointment and rejection. As is the case with all of God's commands, they are for our own good. I guess it just took me awhile to recognize the compassionate provision found in this well-known passage.
Working on giving Him my all,
Larkin
