Faith

by Debbie Wallis

“And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength This is the first commandment And the second, like this, it this,” ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself ’ There is no other commandment greater than these,” Mark 12:30-31

In Exodus 20:1-17, “God said to the people of Israel: I am the Lord your God, the one who brought you out of Egypt where you were slaves.” And He gave them the Ten Commandments.

1) You shall have no other gods before Me.

2) You shall not make idols

3) You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain

4) Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy

5) Honor your father and mother

6) You shall not murder

7) You shall not commit adultery

8) You shall not steal

9) You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor

10) You shall not covet

If you were to pick the most important commandment which would it be? Not to murder? No stealing? No lying? Go to church on Sundays? No gossiping? Or maybe it’s the way we treat God Don’t have other gods Don’t curse with God’s name “One of the teachers of the Law of Moses came up while Jesus and the Sadducees were debating. When he heard Jesus give a good answer, he asked Him, “What is the most important commandment?” Mark 12:28. Most anyone you ask will always have murder and stealing as their most important command After all, that’s something you can go to jail for! But Jesus said loving God with everything in you and loving other people as much as you love yourself were the two most important Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind strength

The heart is the true issue of our decision making We first meditate a thought and start entertaining the idea of bringing it to life We fantasize. If you think about it long enough you will act on it. That takes it from the mind to the heart. Our soul is our mind, our will and our emotions. It’s who we are when no one is looking. It’s who we are when the pretense is gone God commands you to love Him without the pretense, to love Him in your thoughts so much that you accept Him in your heart When you love God with all your strength, with all your mind, and your emotions and you give over your will to His will you love Him with your heart He wants all your heart When you love God with all your heart you will not love any other gods You will see they are little g’s and there will be no room for an insignificant god in your life When you love God with all that you are, nothing on the planet can compare to Him and the result is there will be no idols. You will look forward to fellowshipping and praising the Lord your God with other believers and His name will be too important to be used in vain

Who is your neighbor? When you are home, it’s the people in your house and in your neighborhood. It’s your spouse and your children, your parents and your siblings. It’s the mailman, the trash man and the kid throwing your paper. At your job it’s your co-workers, your boss or your employees and the UPS man It’s the service repair and the solicitors, the grocery clerks and the cart kid It’s the man ahead of you in the Quick Check buying scratch offs It’s the policeman writing you a ticket and the person tailgating you It’s the crying baby on the plane and the waitress that got your order wrong Your neighbor is the family on the news you’ve never meet that lost everything in a house fire, and the Bill Gates of the world Your neighbor is the politicians you agree and disagree with. Your neighbor is the people you come in contact with in person through social media. Do you think of them the way you would want to be thought of and talked about and treated?

The Golden Rule is “Do unto others as you would want them to do unto you.” Is it impossible to love and treat them the way you would treat yourself? Philippians 4:13 reminds us that we can do anything that God calls us to do. Jesus said that loving God and loving people was the two most important commandments If you love others like you want to be loved you will be keeping the commandments on how to treat others No jealousy, selfishness or any sins that are connected to those emotions How is that possible when we are born with an innate desire to be first and foremost? It’s not that complicated, Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and with all your strength and you shall love your neighbor as yourself “If you love Me, keep My commands,” John 14:15.

If you do not have a Bible please contact me at sfadebbie@yahoo.com and I will provide you one.