Notice on a slight format change:

Except for July 2012, these are mostly a collection of current devotional notes.

July 2012 is a re-write of old quiet times. My second child was born Nov 11, 1987 with multiple birth defects. I've been re-reading my QT notes from that time in my life, and have included them here. They cover the time before the birth and the few years immediately after the birth. They are tagged "historical." I added new insights and labeled them: ((TODAY, dd mmm yy)).

Thursday, March 10, 2022

QT 3/10/2022 Matt 22:34-40, Do we truly love God or is it only show?

Matthew 22:34–40 (ESV) —

34 But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. 35 And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

 

NOTE: Apparently, this question was not easily answered or there had been great debate as to the most important commandment. I'm not sure why it would be important since the law requires you to obey the whole law and not the most important law. Picking one law out of 613 seems somewhat ridiculous. Jesus does indeed find two corollary laws with the same theme that encompass all 613. The theme is love. And all laws originate from this law of love. Jesus only differentiates that our love for God is the primary and first law. If we do that, the second, 'love your neighbor as yourself' will naturally flow out as well as all laws in the OT. But love for God must be the first and primary law. So we could simplify and say love God, love people. But I think we should not neglect the subtleties of Jesus' response. We are to love God 1) with all of our heart (our emotions, our desires), 2) with all our soul (our inner being, who we are, what we give our life to), and 3) with all of our mind (we need to seek God in our thinking, our logic, and our understanding of his worldview -- which is quite different from the world around us).

 

PONDER:

  1. If we truly love God, we will give him primacy in our time, our decisions, and our energy.
  2. What is the first thing I do in the morning?
  3. Do I bring God into my decision-making? Do I pray about every decision?
  4. What takes up my energy in a day? Probably work, but does God command any of it? Or is it just a few hours on Sunday?

 

PRAYER: Father, help us to reevaluate our love for you. Is it only a slogan or saying? Or do I truly love you with ALL of my heart, soul, and mind? We say things that we don't often believe or live out. Protect me from being a hypocrite.

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