The Greatest: Mark 12:28-34

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.

This is probably one of my favorite passages in Scripture. In it, Jesus makes it clear what we are to “do” to be right with God. We are to put God first in everything, but you can not do that without first knowing who God is. And that relationship is initiated by God’s Holy Spirit. And made right by Jesus.

Along with putting God first is then putting everyone else’s needs on par with our own. In other words, what we are supposed to do is deny our sinful pride.

Prayer:

Lord, help me to put you first by serving others today. We pray this in the name of Jesus, amen.