Wednesday’s Thoughts
One way to follow Jesus is to follow the commandments. In Sunday’s reading from Matthew, Jesus is asked by a young lawyer, what is the greatest commandment. Jesus replies, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.”
What does it mean to love God with all your heart mind and soul? Does it mean putting God first, before anything else in your life? I would like to suggest that one of the ways we love God is by trusting God enough to trust God with your life.
In our Genesis reading for Sunday, we hear again the story of when Abraham was asked by God to sacrifice his only son, Isaac. Abraham had already been asked to give up his entire past when he left his homeland, and now he is asked to give up his entire future. But in spite of this, Abraham loved and trusted God enough to do what God was asking. The story of Abraham is an example of ultimate trust in and devotion to God.
In the New Testament, we learn that Jesus came to teach us more about what God is like. And when Jesus asks us to follow him, he always points us to God.
The question we can ask ourselves is, do we trust Jesus enough to follow him to the ultimate end? There comes a time in each of our lives when we are asked for the ultimate sacrifice: giving up a loved one, giving up a dream, etc. Would we be able to go the length, as Abraham did? It would be and is very hard.
These are hard issues to grapple with. I would appreciate your thoughts.
If you have thought to share publicly, please leave a comment with this post. For personal thoughts write me at pastorcq@quinnclan.net. I look forward to your ideas.
Carol
