Dear Lord, help me, help me, help me…to remember.
TOGETHER, always – ALWAYS TOGETHER.
Love God with All Your Heart
Jesus’ primary concern was to be obedient to his Father, to live constantly in his presence. Only then did it become clear to him what his task was in his relationships with people. This also is the way he proposes for his apostles: “It is to the glory of my Father that you should bear much fruit, and then you will be my disciples” (John 15:8, JB). Perhaps we must continually remind ourselves that the first commandment requiring us to love God with all our heart, all our soul, and all our mind is indeed the first. I wonder if we really believe this. It seems that in fact we live as if we should give as much of our heart, soul, and mind as possible to our fellow human beings, while trying hard not to forget God. At least we feel that our attention should be divided evenly between God and our neighbor. But Jesus’ claim is much more radical. He asks for a single-minded commitment to God and God alone. God wants all of our heart, all of our mind, and all of our soul. It is this unconditional and unreserved love for God that leads to the care for our neighbor, not as an activity that distracts us from God or competes with our attention to God, but as an expression of our love for God who reveals himself to us as the God of all people. It is in God that we find our neighbors and discover our responsibility to them. We might even say that only in God does our neighbor become a neighbor rather than an infringement upon our autonomy, and that only in and through God does service become possible.
The Living Reminder
Henri Nouwen. You Are the Beloved: 365 Daily Readings and Meditations for Spiritual Living: A Devotional (p. 226).
BUILT TO LEAD 
Nice to wake up to a God message. Shakes me up in a good way. No doubt God wants all of us, not just the piece we give Him. I’m trending that way, but suppose I’ll never get there. I’m on the road to Damascus.
What is the ‘Greatest Commandment’? (a trick question to be sure). Jesus’ answer has two parts. Love your neighbor, as yourself. Love your neighbor. Love yourself. I find both of them to be difficult much of the time. Love self ? Don’t we do enough of that already ? Love self.. I wonder about that. Love self as God designed me ? Maybe ? I think I’m still on the road. Accepting self, forgiving self, loving self …. not secular love of self. The Jesus version with all my flaws. Still on the road to Damascus.
If obedience to God is the lynch pin of the New Testament, then I’ve missed the mark again. I’ve gotta got with Grace as the primary message this Christ follower leans on.
Amazing GRACE.
Good word Jim!