"And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that He had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all? And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these" (Mark 12:28:-31).
We exist to be loved by God, to love Him, and to love people as the fruit of such reception and response. Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ births the possibility of fulfilling this reason for being as His Spirit indwells us for the purpose of enabling us. "Because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying Abba Father" (Galatians 4:6). This establishes the possibility of living a truly meaningful and significant life that impacts both the present and eternity. As the saying so beautifully expresses, "Only one life, 'twill soon be past. Only what's done for Christ will last." We might also say, "Only what's done through Christ will last." Indeed, the presence of the Spirit of Christ provides a life that is truly a life, as defined by the God of whom Scripture declares, "He is thy life" (Deuteronomy 30:20).
To the degree we devote ourselves to the love of God received from Him, returned to Him, and expressed through Him to others comprises our experience of a life that truly matters. We will take nothing else with us when we enter into eternity because nothing else of our present life would comfortably fit in Heavenly places. We were made for such love, and such love makes us. Or, in terms of this consideration, it makes us matter.
"Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing."
(I Corinthians 13:1-3)
Weekly Memory Verse
Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel, which, being interpreted, is God with us."
(Matthew 1:23)
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