What, how, when, and where are questions most of us ask about a lot of things in life. We seem to want to simplify things in our lives, but in the process of simplifying, we tend to complicate it. The first thing many new Christians ask is, “what am I to do as a new believer, where do I start, how am I to succeed, and when will I know if I’m on the right track?”
In Mark chapter 12, Jesus makes clear how to know if we are on track with our spiritual lives. He answers the question from one of the scribes who asked Him, “what is the greatest commandment of all?” In verses 30-31 we have the summation of the successful Christian life.
The greatest commandment is to love the Lord thy God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. Simple yet huge! Jesus is saying everything about us is to be consumed with loving God.
Our heart is to be so fixed on our love for God that our affections are supreme to anything or anyone else. When we say we love someone more than anyone else we are placing their desires above our own or anyone else’s. This kind of love is willing to give up all that we hold dear at His command.
To love with all of our souls is to love so much that we would be willing to give our lives for Him. Some may say they would die for Him, and that would be giving up life, but what about giving up our lives while we are living? We are to be so devoted to Him that our desires are whatever He desires for us. We are to live as a slave to a master, at His command. It should fill our souls with joy to know we have lived and served to please Him.
Next, we are to love with all our mind. We are to submit our intellect to His word and His will for our lives. In the day and time we live, it is easy to read God’s word and think His direction won’t fit in today’s world. That is a tactic of the enemy. We are to love His Word more than our comfort of fitting into this world. If our thoughts are different from God’s word, we are wrong, and we are to repent and accept all that God teaches no matter what the world teaches. With all the sin in our face constantly, we must feed our minds on God’s word, otherwise, we will find ourselves desensitized and believing a lie. We must love His word more than the world’s views.
Mark also includes we are to love Him with all of our strength. We are to use our physical strength to labor for His glory. Tiredness should not determine what we will or will not do for Him. Our love should surpass our physical feelings that tend to guide our actions.
Then Jesus further completes the greatest commandment by telling us after we love Him with everything about us, we are to do the same for our neighbor. We are to love them as we love ourselves. In other words, what we would do for ourselves, we do for others. If we are hungry, we eat. If we know someone who is hungry, we are to feed them. This second commandment is not hard if we get the first one right. When we love God with everything about us, we will love what He loves, we will act as He would act, and we will have a genuine concern for their souls and their lives.
Mark 12:30-31 “And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.”
Now we have the “what” of life. We are to love God and others more than anything else. We have the “how,” we are to submit and obey. We have the “when.” When we give our lives to Jesus and accept Him as our Savior and Lord, we will experience this kind of love for us, and in turn, begin to express it to God and others. The “where” is wherever we are in this world. Our love for God and others is not reserved for a body of believers or a certain group of people. It is to be shown to anyone God allows in our path. When we follow Jesus’ two commands, everything else will fall into place.
