“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all you mind. This is the great and first commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbour as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
— Matthew 22:36-40
I want to take a little time to speak on this, because God has been putting the issue on my heart of late.
Notice the order of the commandments. The first is addressed not at others, but at us — at me. Love the Lord with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind. This is the first, and the greatest commandment; that I love the Lord with everything in me. And let’s focus on that for the time being, leaving the second commandment for another time. Because if we don’t get the first one right, we won’t have a chance at the next. And that’s just my point here. I think that Christians in general likely concentrate overmuch on the second commandment, and so neglect the first. But remember, Jesus gave us the order of importance here. Let’s not overlook that.
In reality, our Lord could have left off at the second sentence — “The is the first and great commandment.” Because we all ought to know that if we can get that right, the second will come naturally, without our even having to think about it. And yet all too often I believe that we get it backwards. I get it backwards. I strive after servings others, teaching others, giving to others, loving others; and those are good things, but in seeking them, am I losing sight of the greatest commandment? I know the answer to that question, though I can’t give it for anyone but myself.
In my desire to minister to those about me, am I failing in my own relationship with my Father? It truly is all too easy for ministry to become an idol. Yes, even ministry can be an idol! Anything, anything that takes priority over my relationship with my King, is an idol, and is robbing God of His greatest desire for me: that I would know and love Him with all of my being, and above all other things.
I think that a fundamental lesson for every Christian to learn is how to be alone with God, and just give Him praise. Without anyone around, with no intention of publishing our efforts at a later time, without any hidden desire to let someone else in on our time with our Saviour. And with no desire to myself do any such thing, I will just tell you that recently I’ve started beginning my days with alone time with God. A time to just pray thanks to Him, and draw nearer to Him, and not think about anyone else. I sip my coffee, sit in bed, and be still before my God. It is without any shadow of a doubt, one of the best things I have ever decided to do.
All that to say this: I encourage you to take time each day to be with God, alone. Just you, and Him. Praise Him. Ask Him to deepen your relationship with Him, your understanding of Him, your love for Him. Jesus Christ hung from a cross so that you and I might have a personal relationship with Him — is that not enough to earn Him some alone time with His children?
yours in Christ,
— Joel