first day back

Mark 12, James 4

Well, I've been back at work for about an hour, and it is amazing how much I miss my wife and son already.

The Lord continues to impress on me the significance of these verses:

^{Mk 12:29} Jesus replied, "The most important commandment is this: 'Listen, O Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only Lord. ³⁰ And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.' ³¹ The second is equally important: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' No other commandment is greater than these."

The fundamental characteristic of our relationship with God and man is LOVE!

I was also impressed this morning with the need to continually confess and repent from sin:

^{J 4:6} But he gives us even more grace to stand against such evil desires. As the Scriptures say,

   "God opposes the proud
      but favors the humble."

 ⁷ So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. ⁸ Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world. ⁹ Let there be tears for what you have done. Let there be sorrow and deep grief. Let there be sadness instead of laughter, and gloom instead of joy. ¹⁰ Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up in honor.

The pride of our flesh just keeps growing.  We must continually confess and repent so that the Lord will mow it down.  It doesn't take weeds very long to produce seeds, so you have to keep chopping them down and uprooting them.

Heavenly Father, please forgive me for the pride that keeps growing inside me.  Lord, please teach me how to regularly humble myself before you so that I can draw close to you because I need you to draw close to me.  I am fragile and empty, and I need you to hold me and fill me with yourself.  Oh Lord, please fill me with your agape love - love for you and love for others.  May others see the joy and peace that you have given me because of the way that I love.  I ask in the name of Jesus Christ, who shows what love really is.  Amen.