Dave's Diary

Daily Readings: Mark 12 and Psalm 63

In Mark 12, Jesus faced hot opposition from various religious authorities due to His dramatic entry into Jerusalem and His cleansing of the Temple. Out of one such interaction, this significant declaration was born:

²⁹ “The most important (commandment) is … ³⁰ Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.”

As disciples of Jesus, love for God ought to be foundational in our lives.

We are called to love God with all the power of our affection (“heart”), so an important component of our spirituality should be taking time regularly to meditate on the beauty of the Lord, His wonderful qualities and characteristics, and to express the love of our hearts to Him in worship.

We are called to love God with all our decisions (“soul”), so an important component of our daily living ought to be the conscious weighing of our decisions to discern whether what we are about to say or do is pleasing to the Lord or not.

We are called to love God with all our mental capacity and reasoning (“mind”), so another aspect of our spirituality should be applying our minds to know and understand God and His work in our world more fully. If we never study God through the instrument of His Word and His world, we are not loving Him with “all our minds”.

We are called to love God with all our effort (“strength”). The Lord is worthy of our effort in discipleship. Our love ought to move us to overcome opposition and press through hard times or difficulties out of loving obedience to Him, and not to give up when the slightest difficulty arises.

Life application: What one small thing do I need to change to increase my expression of love for God, whether in heart, soul, mind or strength?