Least of These...

God challenged me with something this morning that hit me pretty hard. Check out Matthew 5:19...

"Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven."

Jesus is stressing the point that we can't overlook even the smallest commands He has given us. However, while I was reading His emphasis on the least of the commands, He quickly reminded of the importance of His greatest commands. If He is going to hold us greatly accountable for the least of His commands, can you even start to imagine the level of accountability He will hold us to for the greatest commands?

We have to keep in mind, Jesus isn't talking about a works based salvation, but I believe the Bible fully teaches we will stand accountable for what we do as a follower of Christ. This judgment won't determine our salvation and eternal destiny, but as Jesus says in this verse, it will determine our rewards in Heaven.

Therefore, it worries me that so many of us, including myself, are falling short in the greatest commandments as spoken by Jesus in Matthew 22:34-40... 1) Loving God above everything else and 2) Loving others. Oh, how the heart of God must be breaking because of how far His church has drifted from its primary calling!

For the next couple of days, I'll dive deeper into this topic and try to help us all better understand these great commands that have been given to us.