daily java

Daily Java:

This command I am giving you today is not too difficult for you to understand, and it is not beyond your reach. It is not kept in heaven, so distant that you must ask, ‘Who will go up to heaven and bring it down so we can hear it and obey?’ It is not kept beyond the sea, so far away that you must ask, ‘Who will cross the sea to bring it to us so we can hear it and obey?’ No, the message is very close at hand; it is on your lips and in your heart so that you can obey it. (Deuteronomy 30:11-14)

People struggle to do the will of God, when it is so simple.

Churches make it hard on their people. They bring up extra rules and regulations, how you are to dress, what you cane at or drink, what you can or can’t do in your spare time. And after al while, it becomes more onerous to be a Christian than it did to be in the world.

It is no wonder so many go back to where they were before Jesus.

The will of God is simple, it is no, as Moses said, beyond your reach.

Even in the Old Testament, Moses could see that. And he was the one who had brought down all of the myriad laws God had given to the Israelites. But he could look past all those laws and see the point of them. He could see the foundation behind all of those detailed laws.

It was not the laws that saved, it was the God behind the laws.

What was the point? Love God and let him love you. Choose God and let him choose you.

That was it. That was the whole point. When Jesus was asked what the great commandment was in Mark 12, he 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.

That was the Shema, the foundational verses in Deuteronomy 6. The second was from Leviticus 19:18.

The whole point was love. Loving God and loving each other. In other words, it was recognizing that you are not  the most important thing around in this world. God is first, others are second, and you are third.

In Mark 9:32, a teacher of the law who was listening said:

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.

Jesus knew that this man, this teacher of the law, had the point. In v34, it ways,  Realizing how much the man understood, Jesus said to him, You are not far from the Kingdom of God.

This guy was able to go beyond all of the stuff and see the point.

The point is not what we eat or drink, it is not what we wear, it is not even how we worship. The point is loving God and accepting him as our Savior. When we do, all else falls into place.

As the Beatles said, “All you need is love.” As simplistic and silly as that sounds, it is absolutely true. Of course, it isn’t true in the sense the Beatles thought. But it makes it no less true that it came from an odd source.

James called it the Royal Law. Jesus called it his great commandment. God calls it the point of everything else we do. if we do not love, as Paul said, in 1 Corinthians 13, we are not serving God.

It is so simple that it is hard sometimes to understand.