LOVE WITH EVERYTHING YOU HAVE GOT

LOVE WITH EVERYTHING=THAT YOU HAVE GOT In the 12th chapter Of Saint Mark's Gospel ONE of the teachers Of the law Comes forward and asks Jesus WHICH commandment is MOST IMPORTANT? “'The most important one,' Answered Jesus, Is this-'Hear, O Israel The Lord our God The Lord is one LOVE the Lord Your God With all your heart And with all your soul And with all your mind And with all your strength' The second is this, 'LOVE your neighbor as yourself' There is NO commandment Greater than this” Mark 12:29-31 In other words LOVE-with everything that you have got GIVE everything that you have To God and others You come second Give ALL that you have To God and others LOVE-with EVERYTHING that you have That is tantamount To blasphemy-in this me first- Selfish world that we live in Jesus goes on to say, “You are right,” Mark 12:32 And, “you are NOT far from the KINGDOM OF GOD” Mark 12 :34 To the scholar After that-NO ONE DARED- To ask Jesus any more questions It makes me wonder In what I sometimes think- Is right That the SECOND COMING of God- and that the KINGDOM of God Is within ourselves The KINGDOM OF GOD Is within you and within me ONCE-on being asked By the Pharisees WHEN the kingdom of God Would come Jesus replied, “The coming Of the KINGDOM OF GOD Is NOT something That can be observed Nor will people say, 'Here it is,' or 'There it is' Because the kingdom of God Is in your midst” Luke 17:21-22 We may NEVER know When the kingdom of God is ending therefore-we should always- LOVE GOD-and love ALL others And put the first two commandments Into practice At all times LOVE with everything That you have As much as we MAY want to We-most of us-simply cannot love Because we are commanded to For MOST of us It takes seasons of darkness- as it did me- And FINDING THE LIGHT BEFORE we can love At all times In fact-once we love With our whole heart Our whole mind- And all our soul And love our neighbor As ourselves WE HAVE IT! At that point- We GIVE everything That we have to God And others IN LOVE Robert P. Wallman 3-3-16 INSPIRED by an article in LIVING FAITH MAGAZINE by Patricia Livingston