Knowing the rules for any game is important information in order to play and compete in that game. In fact, knowing what the most important rules are in any given context is very helpful— especially in life.God gave the Jews some important rules to follow. Those were the fundamental laws: the Ten Commandments, and then the 600 or so other regulations that provided more details as to how they were to honor God, to treat others, and just how to live.Now they showed a tendency which people ever since had done also. They showed the tendency to take the God’s laws and expand them into thousands of manmade additional rules and regulations. On the other hand, they have shown the tendency to try to boil all of God’s laws down into a single sentence or one general rule – and they would often debate about which is the most important of God’s commands.In Mark’s Gospel and see that a teacher of the law stepped forward and asked an important question. “Which command is the most important of all?” (Mk. 12:28). It seems that he sincerely wanted to know the answer. A person can get lost in all the do’s and don’ts, and can easily miss what is most important of all.Jesus answered: “The most important is, Listen, Israel! The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is, Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other command greater than these” (Mk. 12:29-31).This is an important moment! Jesus is telling us what God considers to be the most important instruction. So we should pay close attention. He actually gives two commands and listed them as first and second, but they are so interconnected that it is like they are one.Jesus said that the first and greatest command is to love God with everything that we are and everything that we have. First, we are to love God with all our heart. That means God must be first in our heart. We must love God above any other person or thing.Second, we are to love God with all our soul, which means that we love God with our life, our whole being. Third, we are to love God with all our mind, which means that the seat of ...
