Mark 12:29 And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:

The question was, what is the first commandment of all, which means which is the most important. So Jesus gives the first commandment. Or did He?

Exodus 20:2-3 I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

Is that the same commandment? Notice the (:) because Jesus wasn’t finished explaining.

Mark 12:30 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 was important to Jesus was to correct Israel’s understanding of the Ten Commandments. They had heard them and failed to obey them because they didn’t rightly understand them. Hidden within those Ten Commandments is a verse which never appears on any list anywhere in all the tablet references located anywhere.

Exodus 20:6 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

They leave the love out. Jesus knew how important that love was in the commandments and everyone, even today’s scholars when listing the Ten Commandments, leave out the love. You can argue the importance of the listed commandments all you like, but what is obedience without love?

Obedience without love turns into resentment. Resentment turns into rebellion and that is why Israel kept turning away from God. Israel’s history repeated that error over and over again. It is an error repeated by many besides Israel, even after Jesus sacrificed Himself for us, the ultimate act of love.

God so loved, God loved so, so God loved.

Now it is our turn.

Genesis 3:8a And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day:

We look to the origins of sin as an example of life conditions, but sometimes the most simple of lessons are overlooked in those moments. Here is something I have overlooked for decades.

In the beginning, God came to seek out man.

Because of our failing the opposite is the case, man has to seek God. What was easy and natural in the origins of our creation is now difficult because of what happened back then. It is now no longer within our experience that finding God is as easy as standing still and allowing God to find us.

God sought to restore that original condition. He did that by coming to us once again, in the form of His Son Jesus Christ. We like Adam have hidden our faces from God, knowing we are sinners, afraid. Now, like then He calls out, “Where are you?” God knows where we are hiding, He calls to let us now He is seeking a personal relationship.

I have had many tell me God is not real, or the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob isn’t the One True God. To the ones that say God is not real, I don’t believe in you, does that mean you do not exist? Denial is not a fact, it is a negative and a negative can never disprove a positive. To the other gods, whatever name you call them, did they ever come looking for me? For them? Nowhere in all your history, if you have one, did one of them come looking for you.

To the rest, the ones who do not know but would like to know how God is calling you, look to that part of you that is empty and aching, lonely and unsatisfied, hungry and thirsty for something more.

John 6:26-27 Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled. Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed.