The GREATEST COMMANDMENT OF ALL, found in Matthew 22:34-40 and Mark 12:28-34, and also in Deuteronomy 6:4-9, is at the very “heart” of what it means to be fully devoted to God.

This commandment is known as the Greatest Commandment of All because it calls for an unwavering loyalty to God. It is only when a follower of Christ has this type of passion and commitment to Christ that he/she will see others and things with the heart and mind of Christ.

It is the fully devoted life that discovers and lives a full and meaningful life. Tragically, many today have settled for mediocrity in what they believe to be the “Christian life.” The kind of “guarded commitment” that exists today in the body of Christ reminds me of a poem that I read over 30 years ago:

Three Dollars’ Worth of God

I would like to buy $3 worth of God, please.

Not enough to explode my soul or disturb my sleep,

but just enough to equal a cup of warm milk

or a snooze in the sunshine.

I don’t want enough of God to make me love a black man

or pick beets with a migrant.

I want ecstasy, not transformation.

I want the warmth of the womb, not a new birth.

I want a pound of the Eternal in a paper sack.

I would like to buy $3 worth of God, please.

— Wilbur Rees

It is my prayer that we would cease merely being a “fan” of Christ and become fully devoted followers, as He has called us to be.