The Most Important Thing
When Jesus was asked by the religious leaders what the most important command was, He quoted Deuteronomy 6:5. This verse contains one of the most important commands in all of Scripture.
The starting point for all of our lives is wrapped up in loving God. We were created to love God and have a relationship with Him. This relationship means that we were also made to be loved by God as well.
Amidst everything that you have to do in life, the most important thing is that you love God with everything that you are. If we become successful in life but do not love God, we’ve missed the most important thing.
God instructed the Israelites in Deuteronomy to constantly keep this command in their hearts and minds. They made physical reminders to help them remember to love God in everything they did. They taught this command to their children as the foundation of all other commands in Scripture.
Take some time to consider your life as well. Is loving God the primary motivation? Spend some time thinking about how good and merciful God has been in your life. Maybe create a physical reminder that you will see everyday to help focus your thoughts and heart on loving God.
Remember that God loves you more than you could ever imagine. The best motivation to love God is to constantly remember how much He loves us first.
“Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth? For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man. Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness ...