Fields United Methodist Church

Day 23.  Take Time to Be Holy

April 22, 2020

“You shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, and with all of your soul, and with all of your mind, and with all of your strength.”

Mark 12:30

Read: Mark 12:28-30

So what is the benefit of loving God with this much effort? Jesus says this is the greatest commandment for a reason. What if you spent all of your time thinking about yourself, your circumstances, how the world impacts you, and the effect the Coronavirus has on you? What if your world was built around you? If this is your reality, God and everybody else is well down your list. You may suffer a terrible but curable disease; “I trouble.”  Someone told a story about a man lived a “good” life who died and went to heaven. He really wasn’t a bad person at all but he never loved because love would hurt him; never really helped anyone because he could be sued; never involved himself in mission because he may dirty his hands; never took a chance because he could be wrong, never voiced an opinion because it could make him look bad.  When he got to heaven and stood before God, he proclaimed, this is my life! To that God responded, “what life?” When all we think about is ourselves we miss out on truly living; we suffer “I trouble.” But when we fully love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength we place God at the center of our universe and live a life that sees and celebrates those around us as gifts from God to be cherished. Maybe loving God with all that we have is not so much beneficial as it is life transforming for ourselves and a blessing to those around us. When we put God first in our lives we are able to love more completely those who journey through life with us.  We begin to see all creation as a gift rather than a commodity to be traded or used.  Loving God completely frees us from the burden of always having to be right, of being judge and jury of everything and everybody. Maybe loving God with our full devotion is truly a gift that keeps on giving through us.

How do you witness your love of God to those around you?

What 3 things can you do to love God even more?

How are you taking time to be holy?

Prayer: Lord God, help me put you in the center of my life by loving you with all that I have. Thank you for the privilege of loving you more completely, so I can love others and all creation even more.  Amen