The Most Missed Word of the Great Commandment

God wants our all. Following Him is not easy.

There is simply no way to sugar-coat that message and be Biblically consistent.

Jesus, when asked what the most important commandment was, did not sugar-coat His response. Instead, He stated as His first response: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” (Mark 12:30).

We know that verse, but there is a word found in it that is far too easy to overlook.

…and…

That’s the word: “and.”

Far too many people can quote that verse, but when we apply it to our lives, we replace “and” with “or.”

• I am a scholar, so I will give God all my mind, but will indulge the flesh often.
• I love God with all my emotions, but I just do not see the importance of studying deeply.

And we could keep going with every possible combination of the four parts of our being outlined by our Lord in this greatest of all commandment.

The fact of the matter is, until God has “all of our all,” we are not following this command.

Does He have all of your all?

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Photo credit: Sue Clark on creative commons

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