Daily Devotional For Saturday, January 31, 2026
Good morning Southside and it seems old man winter does not want to leave anytime soon. Even with this cold weather, I want to personally thank you for taking the time to let God’s Word warm your hearts. If you have been reading these devotionals you know we are making our way through the Gospel of Matthew. Today, we come to Matthew 22:34-40:
“But when the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees with His reply, they met together to question Him again. (35) One of them, an expert in religious law, tried to trap Him with this question: (36) ‘Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?’ (37) Jesus replied, ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ (38) This is the first and greatest commandment. (39) A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. (40 )The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments” (NLT).
After Jesus exposed the Pharisees’ trap in Matthew 22:15-22 and exposed the trap set by the Sadducees, they regrouped in their attempt to trap Jesus. Matthew says that Jesus silenced the Sadducees. The Greek New Testament word is [φιμόω; fimoō]. It means “to muzzle, to shut up, to forcibly shut the mouth to where it cannot open.” It is amazing how much these Jewish religious leaders intentionally chose to ignore and reject all the prophecies in the Old Testament pointing to Jesus as the Messiah. When people hate you, they hate you and there is very little you can do or should do to attempt to get them to accept you. Jesus never did. He simply shook the dust off His feet and moved on to fulfill God the Father’s purpose for His life.
This question on the surface seems innocent. But behind it was a theological debate among the Jewish religious leaders in ranking the Old Testament commandments from God in an order of priority and importance. They had debates on what they called the “more important” laws or commandments the “lesser important” laws or commandments. Jesus without missing a beat quotes from the Old Testament in Deuteronomy 6:5 as the first part to His answer to their question. Jesus quotes from what they considered the “more important” commandments in the Old Testament called “The Shema.” This is a Hebrew word that means “to hear or listen.” Old Testament passages that are called “The Shema” begin this way. You can read these in Deuteronomy 6:4-9, Deuteronomy 11:13-21, and Numbers 15:37-41.
Jesus’ answer shows that a person’s whole being must be involved in loving God the Father. Nothing should be held back because God holds nothing back. Jesus used the terms “heart, soul and mind” to express the dimensions our love for God should be. If we break these down individually, “heart” refers to our personality or being. This is why we are warned that we should obey what Proverbs 4:23 say: “Guard your hearts . . .” If we do not, we will discover the truth of Jeremiah 17:9.
“Soul” is primarily used in Scripture to refer to our emotions. We tend to think of love in terms of a feeling or emotions. We see Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane when He was in anguish about going to the cross (see Matt. 26:38). The “mind” in a Hebraic way of thinking had a broad connotation and carried the general idea of moving ahead with energy and strength. Here, Jesus expresses that while love can be this, there has to be an intention by us to choose to love God when we do not feel it. If you are married you can understand this. There are times you may not “feel” the love towards your spouse but you intentionally choose to love them. “Mind” is used here in the sense of intellectual, willful vigor and determination, carrying both the meaning of mental endeavor and of strength.
The second command Jesus gave in His answer, He quotes from Leviticus 19:18. In saying that the ultimate high command of God is based on the entire Law, called the Torah found in (Genesis-Deuteronomy) and the prophets. The Sadducees only accepted as Scripture the Torah and not anything else. The Pharisees accepted as authoritative Scripture Genesis–Malachi. Jesus says that loving God and loving people are the two main pillars of Scripture. With limiting it to this, Jesus eliminated all the other pillars the Pharisees had said were pillars – all the rituals, rules and regulations. So, Jesus told both groups, the Pharisees and the Sadducees, they were wrong.
The keeping to fulfilling this command is found in the “alls.” Three times, Jesus uses the word “all” – all your heart, all your soul and all your mind. New Testament scholar William Hendriksen says this: “God’s wholehearted love must not be answered in a halfhearted manner” (Source: William Hendrickson, Exposition Of the Gospel According to Matthew, p. 809). Jesus says that the first commandment cannot be met unless the second commandment is met and vice versa.
We live in a culture of self-love that is glamorized even in media publications such as “People Magazine,” “Us Magazine,” and “Self Magazine.” We have gone from focusing on God and people to us. So, for us as Christians and disciples, our shift is just the opposite of our culture. We shift from us to God and to others. If we had a magazine that would represent this, it might be called “Self-Denial Magazine.” New Testament scholar Douglas Sean O’Donnell writes this:
“When Jesus commands us to love our neighbor as we love ourselves, He assumes a healthy dose of self-love is already in place—a self-love that is natural (it is the way we were created; we naturally care for our bodies, our needs, etc.) and a self-love that is sinful (an egocentric affection that continually seeks self above and before others) – (Source: Douglas Sean O’Donnell, Preach The Word, “Matthew: All Authority in Heaven and on Earth, p. 661).
Reflection Assignment: This is one of the most famous commands by Jesus in Scripture. We know it. We believe it, but we are challenged to live it. Why do you think this is so? Since one depends on the other and holds each other up, why do you think some choose one over the other? When it comes to loving God with all your heart, with all our soul and with all your mind, and others as yourself, how do you measure up to that and why?
Scripture To Meditate On: 1 John 5:2-5, “We know we love God’s children if we love God and obey His commandments. (3) Loving God means keeping His commandments, and His commandments are not burdensome. (4) For every child of God defeats this evil world, and we achieve this victory through our faith. (5) And who can win this battle against the world? Only those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God” (NLT).
Prayer To Pray: “Dear Lord, I want to love You as You state in Matthew 22:37-39. I do not want to be indifferent or apathetic or a fake in my love towards You and others. I want to love You so much that loving others comes naturally and easily. Thank You for helping me with this. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”
I love you Southside! – Pastor Kelly