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.’” Mark 12:30
Any person who wants to learn how to be a good communicator needs to summarize well. I still remember learning about summaries in my English class and practicing making summaries of my own. Summaries are helpful for both the speaker and the listener. For the speaker, making a summary is important because it helps him or her think about the main premise of what they are trying to say concisely. Summaries help the listener immediately understand the most critical aspects of what the communicator wants to share. For the speaker, it solidifies. For the listener, it clarifies. With this understanding of the importance of summaries in mind, imagine the weight of the question Jesus was asked in Mark 12:28, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?” In response, Jesus responded to the question with the perfect summary of all of the commandments given in Scripture.
A religious teacher asked Jesus this question in Mark 12. He was impressed by Jesus’ teachings, so He wanted Jesus to summarize all of the commands by telling him what the most important commandment was. This was a heavy question! Can you imagine the task of picking the most important commandment? This commandment would need to summarize all other commandments, too. Jesus, of course, answered perfectly. “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,’” Jesus said (verses 29-30). According to Jesus, to love God with everything is the most important instruction that we could ever be given.
The amazing thing about this command from Jesus is that when we love God with everything, all other commandments are followed as well. When we love God, we want to live in a way that honors Him. We want to live according to all of the other instructions that He gives us. Additionally, when we love God with everything, we lose taste for the things that are not of Him.
God’s greatest instruction He has ever given and ever will give you is to love Him with everything. If you ever wonder how you can honor Him or make Him pleased, look no further than Jesus’ command to love Him with everything you have. May this unmatched love for God be the greatest desire and pursuit of our hearts for as long as we live.
Take some time to think about Jesus’ summary of the commandments. Why is Jesus’ summary of the commandments a perfect summary? How does the command to love God fulfill all of the other laws? How does understanding this broaden your understanding of what it means to love God?
Read Mark 12:28-34(NLT)
The Most Important CommandmentOne 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.
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