Praise the Lord for another wonderful day. My heart and spirit are set on the one great commandment, to love the Lord our God with all our heart and all our soul. We will feast on that today.
Today’s Prayer
Father, even though our present-day society teaches that there are no “absolutes,” remind us that our first president, George Washington, said, “It is impossible to have a public morality without religious principles.” Could it be that in the USA we have wrongly re-interpreted the “separation of church and state” to exclude our Judeo-Christian principles in the daily conduct of government, politics, business, schools, on our streets, or in our TV and movie programming? Have we become a nation that accepts immorality, corruption and crime as normal, and the aborting of innocent lives as our right? Oh Lord, help us to see ourselves as You must see us and to weep, for surely, “Our pain is Yours, and Your pain is ours, for we catch each other’s tears in the cup of the Father’s will.” I ask this day that you give us as believers the backbone to stand up for the things that are right in your eyes. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.
Let’s eat.
The Most Important Commandment
Mark 12:28-34
One 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?” Jesus replied, “The most important commandment is this: ‘Listen, O Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only Lord. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’ The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.” The teacher of religious law replied, “Well said, Teacher. You have spoken the truth by saying that there is only one God and no other. And I know it is important to love him with all my heart and all my understanding and all my strength, and to love my neighbor as myself. This is more important than to offer all of the burnt offerings and sacrifices required in the law.” Realizing how much the man understood, Jesus said to him, “You are not far from the Kingdom of God.” And after that, no one dared to ask him any more questions.
Quote of the Day
Patience is like good motor oil. It doesn’t remove all the contaminants. It just puts them into suspension so they don’t get into your works and seize them up. Patient people have, so too speak, a large crankcase. They can put a lot of irritants into suspension. ~Cornelius Plantinga, Jr.~