Just Love

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF MARK

JUST LOVE

Mark 12:32-34

32 "Well said, teacher," the man replied. "You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. 33 To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices." 34 When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." And from then on no one dared ask him any more questions.

NIV

If it were any plainer it would jump up and slap us right in the face. The response of this teacher of the law was so profound that Jesus could only command him for not be too far from the kingdom of God. It would seem the only thing left for this teacher to do is accept Jesus as the Christ, the Messiah. The teacher of the law recognized Jesus as a teacher, but yet had made the leap of faith to seeing him as the Lord. But the truth here for us is in the response of the teacher of the law. He saw that the relationship between men and God is based on men loving God with all their hearts, souls, minds, and strength, as well as having that same kind of love for others. He saw that this relationship was far superior to any religious activity. All the burnt offering and sacrifices are meaningless compared to these relationships. But the unfortunate fact is that many churches preach that because of these relationships we should do acts of works or burnt offerings and sacrifices. We even can see these acts of good deeds replacing the relationships. Yes, it is true that because we love the Lord our God with all our heart, all our mind, all our soul and all our strength that we desires to serve him with every fiber of our being. It is true that we spend every effort to forgo any personal goals, personal desires, personal ambitions, and personal gain for the absolute benefit of the kingdom of God. But we cannot allow that service to our Lord to become a list of good deeds which we check off. We cannot replace our love with deeds or religious acts, even reading the Bible, doing devotions, praying, or church activities. Yes the deeds are a result of our love, but they cannot be what define us as citizens of the kingdom of God. It may well be the reason Jesus told him he was not far from the kingdom was because this teacher of the law still believed in the sacrifices and burnt offerings, but the love was more important. The fact is he needed to replace the burnt offerings and sacrifices with love in order for him to be in the kingdom of God, not incorporate them as part of loving God, even if they were the lesser part. So it comes down to just love.