The Most Important
Daily Scripture Readings
Monday: Mark 11:1-11
Tuesday: Mark 11:27-33
Wednesday: Mark 12:13-17
Thursday: Mark 12:18-27
Friday: Deuteronomy 6:4-9
Saturday: Luke 19:1-10
Opening Prayer
Gracious God, remind me daily that you are God and help me to love you with all my heart, all my soul, all my mind and all my strength. In Jesus’ name, AMEN
Reading
In Jesus' day, reciting Shema meant renewing your relationship with God. This was done regularly, perhaps several times a day. Whenever a person recited the Shema, she celebrated God's covenant or promise of grace. Shema firmly acknowledges allegiance to God alone. To recite Shema is to whole-heartedly accept the Kingdom or Reign of God in life. Again and again and again.
When the student asked Jesus his question, he asked Jesus in the language of their culture, "Rabbi, what is your yoke?" or "Rabbi, what is your interpretation of Torah?" The student wanted to know Jesus' "bottom line," his summary of Torah.
And so the greatest commandment is the answer to questions like, "What is the Bible all about? What is God all about? Who is the Christian, and what is she doing here?"
The greatest commandment also underlines that a loving relationship with God is absolutely essential for God's people! Loving others is meaningless if that love is not in response to a loving, covenantal relationship with Almighty God. A loving relationship with God must be set and nurtured first; only then will love for others flow out in response.
The Shema expresses the foundation of Christian living. Jesus obeyed and loved God, and he loved others, perfectly. If we are to be like Jesus, the desperate desire of our hearts is to do the same. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, the community of faith expresses unconditional love of God through obedience and through loving others.
God desires believers to live his commandments. The intense and constant meditation on God's Word is the legacy and obvious witness of those who love God and love others. Loving God and loving others springs out of a deep passion for and commitment to the Text.