Mark 12:29-30 King James Version
29 And Jesus answered him,
The first of all the commandments is,
Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:
30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God
with all thy heart,
and with all thy soul,
and with all thy mind,
and with all thy strength:
this is the first commandment.
What would life be without principles?
What would work be without such?
What would friendships be without that?
This born again workman says, all these would be empty.
When you don't have principles, you have no stand.
You're at the mercy of the world.
And surely, the world belongs to CHRIST's enemy.
That's why we need GOD.
The only principle we need is this:
To love, serve, and glorify Him alone.
Without that most basic principle, we would all be grossly misguided.
That's why Israel elicited GOD's wrath in the Old Testament.
She kept selling out to the heathen, and their other gods.
These seven verses say it all:
Exodus 20:1-7 King James Version
20 And God spake all these words, saying,
2 I am the Lord thy God,
which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt,
out of the house of bondage.
3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image,
or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above,
or that is in the earth beneath,
or that is in the water under the earth.
5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them,
nor serve them:
for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God,
visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children
unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;
6 And shewing mercy unto thousands
of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
7 Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain;
for the Lord will not hold him guiltless
that taketh his name in vain.
There is nothing like it at all.
This loving GOD.
Serving Him.
Obeying His commands.
Delighting in His love, truth, and mercy.
Knowing, and following, His will.
Believing in His Son, JESUS.
That's where our true peace, love, joy, and freedom is.
Psalm 1:1-3King James Version
1 Blessed is the man that walketh not
in the counsel of the ungodly,
nor standeth in the way of sinners,
nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.
2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord;
and in his law doth he meditate day and night.
3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water,
that bringeth forth his fruit in his season;
his leaf also shall not wither;
and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
Psalm 1:4-5King James Version
4 The ungodly are not so:
but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.
5 Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
Psalm 1:6King James Version
6 For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous:
but the way of the ungodly shall perish.
It's really simple --
Put GOD first in EVERYTHING.
You can only love, because He loved you first.
1 John 4:19 King James Version
19 We love him,
because he first loved us.
Nothing comes from us.
We are never the source of love.
Everything came from GOD.
We are merely stewards, and servants, of the LORD.
And yet, as believers, we are His children, too.
And our citizenship is in heaven.
Let not the world cloud your thinking.
Let it not impair your vision.
Let it not darken your heart.
Trust in the LORD JESUS, Who came down from heaven, that all may be saved.
GOD doesn't want anyone to perish, just so you know.
2 Peter 3:9 King James Version
9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise,
as some men count slackness;
but is longsuffering to us-ward,
not willing that any should perish,
but that all should come to repentance.
Our hearts of flesh need GOD's SPIRIT.
Only then can we be born again in Spirit.
And become new creatures in CHRIST.
Then our love will be for the LORD alone.
And our love will be real.
1 John 4:20-21 King James Version
20 If a man say, I love God,
and hateth his brother, he is a liar:
for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen,
how can he love God whom he hath not seen?
21 And this commandment have we from him,
That he who loveth God
love his brother also.
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