ALL ABOUT ALL
In Mark 12, Jesus was asked, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?” 29 “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:29-31)
Forget about all the rest of the Commandments; if what was up to our own righteousness, our failure to fulfill just this one command would justify eternity without God. This command leaves out nothing. If you miss the word ALL, you have missed it ALL! Some have said to me, “Pastor, when is enough, enough? When will I know I am doing it good enough?” My answer to them is that all of our efforts to be good enough will never even begin to satisfy even this first command that God gave us through the law of Moses.
Because God knew we were unable to fulfill the righteous requirements of the law, he sent Jesus to fulfill them on our behalf. You could liken it to him going to school on our behalf, taking the final exam, acing it, and then giving us his perfect score. How beautiful! His purpose was to set us free from trying to keep all the righteous requirements of the law by keeping them perfectly for us! Take a moment to look at the Scriptures. (Rom 7:1-6, 8:1-2, 10:4)
Isaiah tells us that all our righteousness is as filthy rags. (Isa 64:6) It is by faith alone that you can tap into the free gift of righteousness that God has offered to us through Jesus. This means you MUST give up ALL your “good enough” to by faith receive his “good enough.” Make no mistake, it is still all about ALL! You give up ALL your ability to be righteous by your own strength to, by faith, receive ALL his righteousness as provided by the blood of Jesus and the cross! The more you give up ALL efforts to be righteous in God’s sight, surrendering to Christ’s free gift of righteousness, the more his righteousness will flow through you!
Therefore it all comes down to what you believe. This is why Jesus declared, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. (Mt 18:3) Children are believing. They don’t question; they believe what you tell them! The only way to live a righteous life is to, like a child, receive and believe that you are already righteous by the blood of Jesus! Oh yes! What you behold is what you become!
Do you want to live a life that looks like Jesus? Then wholly relinquish ALL thoughts of being righteous enough to deserve God and, by faith, receive ALL his righteousness! The Revelation of your right standing with God is what taps you into the delectable life of heaven! :-) You will experience more and more of the freedom of heaven, the more you receive that it’s not ALL about you, but instead ALL about him! Are you getting the picture? You will experience more of the life of heaven the more it’s…
ALL ABOUT ALL
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