Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.
- Matthew 22:34-40
The speaker at my youth group last night talked about this passage in Matthew, and I thought it was fitting for what we're talking about on this blog. He said that we should "love God, love ourselves, love others, and love stuff in that order." I'm going to change the order slightly to say we should love God first, then love others, then ourselves and stuff, because when we love ourselves more than we love others, we become selfish. The speaker went on to say that when we change the order of these things at all, it's sin. So when we put stuff ahead of others, or others ahead of God, we are doing what's wrong in God's sight. He challenged us to think about what in our lives we put ahead of God. I know we all do this to some degree. We all have something that becomes more important to us than God.
For many girls the thing that often trips them up is boys. Crushes can become an all-consuming passion and an idol in our lives. Take it from someone who knows! I had a crush on a guy that became an obsession to the point where everything I thought about was him. I was constantly analyzing everything he said or did and I became blinded by my emotions. As a result, my relationship with God suffered and my quiet time dwindled down to almost nothing. And when the guy finally told me he didn't like me back, I felt as if my world had collapsed around me. Why? Because I had put him above God. You see, nothing in this world is certain. People, circumstances, feelings - they all change; but there is one Person that will never change. His name is Jesus Christ and He can bring stability to an upside world. And unlike boys, Jesus will never leave you. Isn't that worth so much more than chasing after guys? Our earthly relationships might not last forever, but Jesus will.
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