Image: CRBCers singing hymns following the Lord's Day afternoon service (12.18.22).
Note: Devotion taken from last Sunday's sermon on Matthew 22:34-40.
Matthew 22:37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord
thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38
This is the first and great commandment.
In this month when many think of the birth of Christ, we have
continued our Lord’s Day expositions of the Gospel of Matthew.
Last Sunday we considered Christ’s teaching on the Great
Commandment (Matthew 22:34-40) and were helped by Spurgeon’s commentary on this
passage (Matthew, 345).
Christ commanded first, “Thou shalt love the Lord they God
with all thy heart….”
Spurgeon: “Because he is our God, Jehovah claims our heart’s love.
As our Creator, Preserver, Provider, and Judge, he commands us to yield to him
all our heart’s affection; to love him first, best, heartiest; out of all
comparison to the love we have to any fellow-creature, or to ourselves.”
“…and with all thy soul….”
Spurgeon: “We are love to God with all our life, to love him more
than our life; so that, if necessary, we would give up our life rather than give
up our love to God.”
“…and with all thy mind.”
Spurgeon: “We are to love God with our intellect, with all the
powers of our mind, bringing memory, thought, imagination, reason, judgment,
and all our mental powers, as willing subjects to bow at God’s feet in
admiration and love.”
Let us be encouraged to love the Lord with all our heart, soul, and
mind, even as we also love our neighbor as ourselves (Matthew 22:39).
Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle
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