Being Great at the Great Commandment

I've been focusing all week on a terrific comment that Mark Batterson (Pastor of National Community Church in Washington, D.C.) made at last week's HBC Men's Conference: "If Jesus said that the greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul, mind and strength (Mark 12:30)---then we need to be great at the Great Commandment."

The Great Commandment doesn't leave any wiggle room. It is impossible to follow this commandment if God isn't first priority in our lives. To love God in this way has to mean that everything we think, say and do must be a by-product of this outpouring of love that we have for Him. Our Heavenly Father certainly knew that in order to love like this, we needed to be freed from our sin and He took care of that on the cross. So if Jesus thought that this was so important as to call it the greatest commandment, then doesn't it make sense that we as God's men spend as much time and energy as possible to obey it?

When Jesus uttered these words, the religious leaders of his time (the Pharisees) had already compiled a comprehensive list of 613 spiritual dos and don'ts. Then with one simple and powerful commandment, He shattered them all. So instead of spending our time trying to live up to an inexhaustible set of rules, as God's men let us be great at the Great Commandment!