Numbers 4:1-5:31
Mark 12:18-37
Psalm 48:1-14
Proverbs 10:26
What is it to love the Lord you God with all your (1) heart, (2) soul, (3) mind, and (4) strength? Listening to Peter, after Jesus had predicted Peter's thrice-fold denial, it is to be willing to die for God. He said as much - "Even if I have to die with You, I will never disown You." Dramatic, certainly - and final. Once one had given one's life, presumably they would have nothing more to give. The challenge to love would be over.
Decades ago, though, a Jesuit professor of mine - in college, I think - challenged us to see if we could manifest such complete love differently. Instead of dying for God, could we LIVE for Him? Year after year, month after month, day after day, moment after moment. Plans, desires, thoughts, emotions actions - could we live all those times, actions, words and feelings declaring His existence, and submitting to His will? Could we love Him like Abraham, willing to give up our Isaacs? Could we obey Him enough to suffer daily ridicule, building a massive boat far from any body of water? Could we trust Him enough to sing each day we were unjustly put in chains and, when the chains were broken, refuse to flee, and instead bear witness to our jailer?
Father, it is tempting to think we are ready to show our love for you by dying for You. Perhaps we are, perhaps we aren't. Whichever way, we know not when that time will come, and whether we will have the chance to choose to die for You. What we DO have, each day, each moment You give us, is the chance, the choice to LIVE for You. To confess Your are, to confess Who You are, and to live for You. Give us the heart, the soul, the mind and the strength to do so. In Jesus's name.
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