Monday, October 20, 2008

Scripture: Matthew 22:34-40 (NIV)
34 Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” 37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all of your strength and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Observation:
What is the greatest commandment?
Love the Lord will all your heart, soul, strength, and mind.
What do you think it means to love the Lord with all your mind?
Jesus quoted the verses from Deuteronomy 6:5-9. These verses tell us to talk about the Scriptures all the time: when we wake up, when we lie down, when we walk, when we sit!
So to love the Lord with all your mind is to be actively looking for times to dig into his Word. Realizing that your thirst for God’s presence in your life cannot be quenched in a twenty minute talk at Ignite or even a small group study at church on the weekend. We often settle for a drop on the tongue when we could draw buckets of water from the well that never runs dry.

Application:
Which of the descriptions do you struggle with most: Lord with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind?
Have you made God’s word a part of your everyday life?
Make a commitment now that you will visit this Blog at least ___ days a week to study God’s life-changing words. Maybe you commit to starting with doing the blog twice a week to start. Don’t think you have to go from zero to 100%. Make your goal realistic so you can make it stick.

Prayer:
While we should have a set time each day to read the Bible and talk to God, we should not have one set time a day to think about God and his word. We need think about him and his teachings all the time! Ask God to give you reminders of his scriptures and his love throughout the day.