One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the 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 these.”
“Well said, teacher,”
the man replied. “You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other
but Him. To love Him with all your heart, with all your
understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself
is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
When Jesus saw that he
had answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from
the kingdom of God.” And from then on no one dared ask him any more
questions.
--Mark
12:28-34
Those of you who have read my blog
over the years know that I’ve spoken about spiritual revival many, many times
but in entries mentioned the specific conditions under which I believe has to
happen. And I believe that those conditions are being met right now in the Twin
Cities, people and churches being united and even some clergy being arrested
for living the Word of God.
Basically, they’ve returned to “first
principles,” as mentioned by Jesus above.
That’s right — loving God and loving
neighbors is all that He asks for.
Over the decades many people have prayed
for revival and even set up agencies hoping that God will heed and set up
according to their own understanding of Who He is and what He wants. Two
examples: The “Asbury revival” of 2023 and the Charlie Kirk assassination of
last year. I know personally folks who have studied past revivals and suggested
ways in which they could be duplicated.
In my view, they’ve missed the point.
A creative God has access to infinite ways to demonstrate His intent and won’t
be tied down to any one way of doing things, which I understand. Basically, He
will never share his glory with another.
One thing, however, of which I’m
convinced: No revival at this time would be complete without a complete and total
repudiation of Donald Trump — for spiritual, not political, reasons. He has
become an idol to much of the church of Jesus Christ, which has sought
political power at the expense of its true mission of reconciliation — indeed,
he’s shown that he’s pathologically cruel and has no use for God’s mercy,
something that flies in the face of the very Gospel that Christians say that
they stand for.
With recent shooting deaths of
innocents at the hand of agents of Immigration and Customs Enforcement this
month, an issue because under Trump it’s targeted non-whites, especially those
of Somali heritage, in Minnesota, folks decided to stand up for their
neighbors. “Why didn’t they just obey the law?” some people are asking — but this
is about the law of God, which Christians believe should supersede man’s law.
We can study the Bible and learn all
the theology we want, and I’d never knock those, but if those get in the way of
the personal and corporate relationship with God through Jesus Christ,
especially if that doesn’t lead to obedience, they will have no effect. The
folks demonstrating in Minnesota may not have their theology right or know the
Scriptures as well, but they’re doing what Jesus actually said — and that
cannot but bear fruit. May we all do the same.
