"Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?" And He said to him,"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets."
Matthew 22:36-40
I began teaching women’s Bible studies many years ago. I started out teaching other’s Bible studies such as Beth Moore and Anne Graham Lotz. But then I reached a place where I was desperate for the pure Word of God, and that was what I wanted to teach. I believe the Holy Spirit gave me that desire, but I was terribly intimidated by the thought. I told the Lord I wasn’t a Greek scholar and I did not know Hebrew, but He reminded me I knew Him. He had taught me to hear the Holy Spirit speaking through His Word. I asked Him what do you want me to teach considering the vastness of the Bible. He answered with a question:
"What did I tell you in My Word is the most important commandment?"
I sat quietly and immediately I remembered His Word does tell us what God and Jesus stated was the most important commandment. God tells us in Deuteronomy 6:4-7 and Jesus states in Matthew 22:36-40, Mark 12:28-32, and Luke 10:27. It is repetition of these same verses.
I have often wondered why we weren’t taught these two commandments before the Ten Commandments while growing up in church. Why do these two verses not line walls of our school rooms and the halls of Congress and the Senate? If we learn to obey these two commandments our motives for obeying all others will be completely different.
Obviously God’s desire is to love and be loved. He desires a relationship with His children more than performance and works. He gave me my mother’s heart, and taught me to establish a loving relationship with my children to have their obedience. I first had to follow His example of laying my life down as He did for those He loved. Like my Father I wanted my children to obey out of love and trust as I do for my Heavenly Father.
If we focus on performing for God rather than loving Him it becomes laws of tradition and religion. If It is about our performance it creates self righteousness and pride. God hates both of them because they create division and strife. Religion and self righteousness is very cruel. It is what crucified Christ!
On November the fourth I cried out to God not to allow the darkness in our nation to overcome the Light. I felt overwhelmed by the darkness momentarily till I heard Him speak within my heart,
"Then be the Light!"
What a sobering truth for all of us! The devotional this week was His instruction to me on how to become the Light once again for the nation. When we obey the two most important commandments we will be the Light once again. We will be absorbed in the source of Light. Religion will be stripped away, and we will return to simple devotion to our God, and His Son, and the Holy Spirit. Only then will we have pure and undefiled religion. Truth will prevail over lies of the great deceiver. The war we are waging is spiritual before physical. The Word of God is our sword. Our power and strength comes from the greatest power in existence which is the love of God. God and love is synonymous. The Bible tells us God is love.
Please join me in leaving the distractions of the temporal for the eternal realizing obedience to the first and foremost commandment is our life line as individuals, as families, and as a nation. Then our Light will shine and we will once again be the Light, the city on a hill for the rest of the world. It is what God called us to be as individuals and as inhabitants of this great nation! Only God can make America great again by our obedience to His Statutes.
In His love.
Teresa Roberts
Masterpiece Fitness
276-237-6680
Awarding Marilyn Hanks the Greatest Achiever Award for Masterpiece Fitness at a lovely luncheon yesterday at the Log House Restaurant in Wytheville, Virginia. We are all very proud of her accomplishments and hard work!
