Inspiration & Worship

The Messiah Still Speaks

What does it really mean to “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind”?

It’s one of the most important questions Christians ask themselves, since the Messiah himself, Jesus Christ, cited it as the “greatest commandment in the law.” This is recorded in three of the four gospels, and Jesus doesn’t stop there. He immediately adds that the next most important commandment is “love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22:37, Mark 12:30, Luke 10:25).

Those words are easier to read than to internalize. If this is what most matters to God, then loving God and people should be the focus of our daily lives.

“Don’t merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves,” admonishes James. “Do what it says.” (James 1:22).

To do the word means we have to first know the word, not just what people say about it. We need to read it, eyes-toprint, for ourselves.

In every culture since Christ came to Earth, ours being no exception, people have mentally re-shaped Christianity to fit comfortably with what they already believe. We want to think God is concerned about things WE feel are important, or that OUR political action committee or news station etc. tell us are important. But God didn’t call us out to parrot our culture. He called us out to do His will.

To be doers of the word and not hearers only requires us to study scripture and listen to the spirit of God inside us, then act upon it. The good news is that we CAN do this and God promises to help us. The living God “opens the eyes of our understanding” (Ephesians 1:18) as we seek Him. As we put aside our idols and give God focus and space to work within us, we experience the joy that goes hand in hand with obeying the Messiah. 