"Which is the first of all the commandments?"
Jesus replied, "The first is this:
Hear, O Israel!
The Lord our God is Lord alone!
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,
with all your soul, with all your mind,
and with all your strength.
In our lives we tend to forget that this commandment is always applicable. We think to ourselves that as long as we're getting to Church, finding prayer times, and not taking the LORD's name in vain we are more or less on the right track with this. But there is more to it than that. It applies to even that which isn't specifically religious. God is meant to have dominion over every aspect of our lives. Anything that comes before him in anyway is an idol. "For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin" (see Romans 14:23).
Tobiah and Sarah are a great example of doing this right. On their wedding night, a night when most people would be more than ready to tacitlly acknowledge God but then actually put themselves first, Tobiah and Sarah intentionally seek God first.
Tobiah arose from bed and said to his wife,
"My love, get up.
Let us pray and beg our Lord to have mercy on us
and to grant us deliverance."
It is a game-changer for them. When they put God first in their relationship finally it works the way God intends for it to work. Tacit acknowledgement isn't enough to live in the plans of God. If we want to live in those plans we need to actually seek him first. When we seek him first we do not become so heavenly minded that we are no earthly good. That is a sign that we are filled with tacit acknowledgements rather than genuine seeking. Genuine seeking always includes love of neighbor.
The second is this:
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
The LORD must be first not in thought only but in deed and in truth. From there flows love of neighbor. From there flows all God's blessings.
Behold, thus is the man blessed
who fears the LORD.
The LORD bless you from Zion:
may you see the prosperity of Jerusalem
all the days of your life.
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