Theme:   Elevate: Next Level Spiritual Growth - Leveraging Your Life

This eDevotional was written by a volunteer from Timberlake Church. 

READ:  Mark 12:30; Isaiah 29:13

THINK: As I studied for this devotional I was struck by the context of the foundational scripture - Mark 12:30. The Gospel of Mark is full of the miracles of Jesus and by chapter 7 and beyond, the religious leaders of the day become afraid and are following Jesus around seeking to find fault with Him and discount His ministry and teaching.

The message of Mark 12:30 was directed to the Pharisees, Sadducees and Scribes, the most religious people of the day. They knew the word of God better than anyone else and argued amongst themselves the question they posed to Jesus in verse 28: “What is the greatest commandment?” They had added 600+ commandments to the Ten Commandments but had lost the heart, soul, mind and strength of God’s Word (Isaiah 29:13).

Jesus told them, and us, that the greatest thing is to love God. And not just some warm, fuzzy, gushy, mushy love but a mature love, fully engaging all parts of our convictions, emotions, intellect and actions. Pastor Ben mentioned that God created us to primarily experience our lives through one of these strengths but I think Jesus’ point was to make sure we don’t neglect what loving God feels like, or what loving God causes us to do for others.

DO: Complete one of the self assessment tests that Pastor Ben mentioned (Myers-Briggs, Strength Finders…) then when you are aware of which strength is most dominant in your life ask yourself how that skews your love, service and expression of God.

PRAY:  Father, I want to love you with all that I am and all that I can be. Help me to use my strengths to love and serve you and then stretch me and challenge me to love with all my heart, all my soul, all my mind and all my strength! In Jesus’ name,  Amen