Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing else on earth that I desire besides you.
My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
Mark 12:28-34
A religious scholar has come to Jesus with a question. What is the most important of all the commandments. The answer that Jesus gives pretty much sums up my philosophy of worship. "...love the Lord God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence and energy." (Peterson's translation) Jesus goes on to answer a question that wasn't asked. "And here is the second, 'Love others as well as you love yourself.'"
This answer by Jesus gives the priorities of the church in the right order. Worship God first. Do everything that concerns men second. Now, I have been misunderstood, before, to be implying that worship is only music. I am, after all, a worship musician. But that is not true. Worship takes many forms. Singing and playing instruments are only a couple of ways to worship.
My point is, churches that put evangelism and service before worship are not getting it right. If the church is truly worshiping God, all of those other priorities will fall into place pretty naturally.
Anyway...back to the passage at hand. I'm trying to put myself in the place of this scholar. I've studied the Scriptures for all my life. I've grown weary of all of the fussing and disputing over minor issues among the other scholars. So I've come to Jesus to get the "big picture."
Jesus quotes what is known as the Shema to me (Deuteronomy 6:4-9). Then he goes on to give a lesser known command from Leviticus (19:18). I'm stunned by his answer. I'm not sure what I was expecting...probably "You shall not murder," or "You shall not covet your neighbor's wife" or something like that. I mean, the answer he gave wasn't even one of the Big Ten!
But after pondering a bit, the scholar praises Jesus's answer. Jesus, in turn, told the scholar that he was really close to the kingdom of God.
In the matter of everyone else, that's where I really need help. You have worked on me (with some pretty good results) over the past months on this subject. Keep working, because I keep forgetting. I need constant reminding. I want to love others as I love myself. But I want to love you first.
Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.
Love your neighbor as yourself.
Grace and peace, friends.