You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. Matthew 22:37
I see so many Christians today who divide up their lives into tightly packed little compartments: the sacred and the secular. The sacred is what they do on Sunday, and the secular is up for grabs. It’s just whatever happens! So they have their sacred life at church, and they do their business with the world the rest of the time.
But the real Christian life requires us to do all things in word and in deed to the glory of God. There’s no difference between what you are on Sunday and what you are every other minute of the week!
That’s why this commandment in today’s passage is just so important. It’s Jesus’ reminder to you and me that when we truly love God, it will be with every fiber of our being. It’s not that we just give Him one day a week and live however we want the rest of the week. No, we seek to glorify Him with our entire lives. That’s real love!
Maybe you’ve found yourself at times acting like a different person depending on whether you’re in a “religious” or “secular” setting. But in reality, you should be the same person in both settings. So don’t let the day of the week dictate how devoted you are to following Christ. Honor Him every day with your entire being!
Don’t let the day of the week dictate your commitment to Christ. Instead, honor God with your life every day!
by Dr. Paul Chappell
“And came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and taught them on the sabbath days. And they were astonished at his doctrine: for his word was with power.”
Luke 4:31–32
After He was rejected by the people in His hometown of Nazareth, Jesus moved to the city of Capernaum, which became His ministry headquarters. There He continued His practice of going to the synagogue each week on the Sabbath day to teach the people. It was easy for them to recognize that what Jesus was preaching was different than what they had previously heard from other rabbis. The parallel account in Mark highlights this truth: “And they were astonished at his doctrine: for he taught them as one that had authority, and not as the scribes” (Mark 1:22).
It was a common practice in those days for the rabbis to teach more about the teachings of rabbis and the arguments they had over what various parts of Scripture meant, than to actually focus on the Word of God. Jesus was different. He was not interested in the opinions of man. He declared the truths that the Holy Spirit of God had inspired to be written down and explained how they applied to daily life and what God expected of His people.
There is enormous power and authority when we stand and say, “Thus saith the Lord.” Our ideas and opinions do not carry the weight to bring conviction of sin to the hearts of the lost. Noted author and skeptic Mark Twain said, “It’s not the parts of the Bible that I don’t understand that bother me. It is the parts I do understand.” Though the Bible may not be accepted or appreciated, its power cannot be denied. We need to tell the world what God has said. His Word, shared in His power, is the means He has given us to reach the lost.
Today’s Growth Principle:
When we tell people God’s truth from His Word, we give them a message with the power to transform lives.
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