More Than a Checklist

Jesus answered, “…The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord
your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all
your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no
other commandment greater than these.” - Mark 12:29-31

Mondays are my day-off, and truthfully, some are more productive than others.  Yesterday I felt pretty good about my accomplishments. I had a list in my head of things that had been piling up, and as each one was completed, I mentally checked the box.  The nice thing about checking a box is that you don’t have to think about it anymore.  Maybe I’ll need to accomplish this again next week or next month, but for now my mind. can be on to other things. We all have our limits, so freeing up space is a great way to open up room for the next thing.

It's tempting to view our faith life in the same way. We can check a box on Sunday and that frees us up for other things. The words of Jesus in Mark 12 don’t fit with faith on a list you can check. Faith is an active thing that is not managed like a Monday list. Loving God is a consuming, filling thing so that love topped off goes through us into loving our neighbor.

May we all daily be encouraged in faith so that we can faithfully love others who need Jesus…in our homes, in our neighborhoods, to the nations.