Common Sense Reborn

A Simple Reminder

²⁸One of the teachers of religious law was standing there listening to the debate. He realized that Jesus had answered well, so he asked, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”

²⁹Jesus replied, “The most important commandment is this: ‘Listen, O Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only Lord. ³⁰And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength. ³¹The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is great than these.” (Mark 12:28-31)

Happy Friday Y’all. On Wednesday night, I met for my bi-weekly “Worship and Whiskey” Bible Study. We have read through the Book of Judges in the Old Testament, and the Gospel of Mark through chapter 12. We had a great discussion about the storytelling within the Book of Joshua and Judges, where Joshua leads the Israelites into the Promised Land, and quickly, in the Book of Judges, we read how fast the Israelites turn away from God. But Judges does include some amazing leaders of the ancient Israelites, including the first female leader of the nation (Deborah) and the strongest, physically: Samson. We ran short on time discussing most of the Gospel of Mark, due to Wednesday night being the night before all our kids went back to school, but I closed out the Bible Study by pointing out the verses above.

So, here we see a second Gospel author capture Jesus teaching a religious leader the “most important commandments”. Notice that this is not a rule, these are not even one of the original Ten Commandments. What Jesus tells them is a way of living: loving God above all else and loving ALL people as you love yourself. Of course, if we as Christians, truly focused on fulfilling these two commandments, then we would automatically fulfill all the other commandments and rules within the Holy Bible. It is really that simple, and this is a simple reminder that we just need to focus on loving God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, focusing on protecting God’s creation and developing a relationship with Him. Secondly, to love our neighbor as ourselves, this would eliminate all sin against anyone around us. We do not steal, hurt, or injure those that we love. Well, at least, we should not, especially as Christians. So, as you enter this weekend, keep these two commandments as the beacon to light your way. And keep this new song by Brandon Lake on repeat all weekend. I have had it on a continuous loop since he released it. Click the image below and watch many of his fans singing out this new anthem, telling the world who they praise.